Rebirth of the Shadow Games: Dusk, Night, Dawn
by cypsiman2
Summary: For six months Yuugi and his friends have been leading peaceful lives. But when a new enemy arrives to put them through the crucible of shadows, will they be able to emerge triumphant, or will the darkness within them consume them? Post manga continuity
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Though I have tried hard to follow the rules of the game, I can't guarantee that I haven't made any mistakes. Please remember that even Takahashi would bend the rules to get the results that he needed for the story to work. That said, please enjoy.

Rebirth of the Shadow Games: Dusk, Night, Dawn

"Hey Yuugi, you feel like going to a movie?" Jounouchi was sitting back in his seat, one leg on his desk as he asked me his question. I thought about it for a moment.

"Nah, there aren't any good ones out right now." Jounouchi starts snickering.

"Dude, don't tell me you only go to see _good_ movies? Come on, haven't you ever just wanted to mock something really bad?"

"Yeah." Honda chimed in, "For example, we could find a dubbed American movie and laugh at the really bad dub job. Doesn't that sound fun?" Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Anzu shaking her head at that, causing her hair to swish ever so slightly. Eager to get my mind of off that, I turn my head and I notice someone coming into the room; I've never seen him before, but he looks to be a new student at Domino High. He walks right past Bakura and Otogi and looks right at me. I guess that the others must have noticed him too, because now we're all looking at him. He seems to be glowing under our attention.

"Excuse me," he has a really eager voice, "but you are Mister Yuugi Mutou, yes?" I laugh a little bit at that.

"Please, don't call me mister, just Yuugi is fine. What's your name?" He puts his hands in the air in a shrugging motion.

"Just Jiro Yamada. Nothing special, not like yours. You could ask a thousand people who Jiro Yamada is, and they'll all be thinking of someone different. So I was thinking, maybe if I were to duel _the _Yuugi Mutou, then people would know who I am. So how does that sound?" Ever since Battle City, lots of people have wanted to see me duel, but there have been very few who were willing. Having to face the God Cards would be incredibly intimidating, but Yamada seemed to be excited by the prospect.

"Sure, that sounds fine by me. Keep in mind that I won't hold back, okay?" Jiro grinned a big toothy grin.

"Trust me; I want everyone to know that I faced Yuugi at his full strength. I have to go home to pick up my Duel Disc, so how about we do this at the park in one hour?" I nod, and he practically skips out of the room. As soon as he exits, he starts shouting "Jiro versus Yuugi, one hour, park" over and over again.

"Well this is just great." Otogi said, "Now I've lost all my fangirls for the rest of the day. Hell, depending on how glorious Yuugi's victory is, I could go at least a week without any adoration." Bakura shook his head.

"Well, I think that I'll enjoy any amount of time when I don't have to look over my shoulder for fangirls. I just wish Yuugi didn't have to put up with them." I blanch.

"Well," Honda says, "He really wants to make sure that everyone knows about this duel." Anzu coughed.

"Well of course. If your parents thought it would be a good idea to name you Jiro Yamada, wouldn't you want to do something to stand out?" I nod.

"Well, I just hope he doesn't make this a regular thing. I don't think Seto Kaiba would appreciate someone else trying to become my rival. Well, we better hurry so that I can get my Duel Disc. Come on guys." We race, and I keep my mind off the crowds and on the joy of the coming duel, of the chance to duel for the fun of it. Aside from Jounouchi and Anzu, I don't get that from anyone else. There's always so much stress whenever someone does challenge me, but I don't get any of that from Yamada. Heck, he and I will probably become good friends once this is over, I'm sure of it.

* * *

That Grandfather of Yuugi's was definitely quite the character. When he saw me, he reacted in more or less the same exact way that Yuugi did when he first saw me. If Anzu had been there, she would have probably been mildly exasperated, as opposed to wanting to burn me alive like she was back then. Good times. Anyway, even though he said that Yuugi and his friends had just left to duel someone, I decided to stay and chat for awhile, to get a feel for how things have been for the gang from an outside opinion.

As it turns out, there's been quite a bit that Jounouchi's been leaving out of his emails to me. For instance, that after that whole "Ceremonial Battle" thing, that Yuugi and Anzu spent almost a whole month not even talking to each other. That, more then the whole "other Yuugi was really a long-lost Pharaoh", was really strange. There was something about those two that always struck me as just a little "fairy-tale", meant-to-be, that sort of thing. Sugoroku laughed when I mentioned that.

"You know, you're not the first person to think that about them. Did you know that when they were little, Anzu was like a little knight to Yuugi? He always told me how strong and kind Anzu was, always describing the bullies she defended him from in the most grandiose terms to make her even more impressive." I thought about that for a moment; Anzu in a suit of armor, which would by following the analogy, require that Yuugi be in a dress. Something about that was so unconscionably hilarious to me that I couldn't stop laughing. Fortunately Sugoroku wasn't insulted by that.

Seeing the time, I decided that I should really get back on track on meeting with the others. Before leaving, I bought a set of booster packs and showed the old man the picture of Roulette, asking him if he'd ever come by the shop.

"No, I can't say that I've seen him before. Who is he?"

"He's called Roulette, and he was supposed to duel back in the China National Tournament, only he ran away before the finals." Sugoroku put his chin in his hand

"Well, just be careful. Someone who uses an alias like that has something to hide. I hope it isn't anything serious, but you never know." My eyes opened wide in response. He looks at me questioningly.

"Sorry, it's just that you're the first one who realized that Roulette was a fake name without me having to explain it to them." He laughed.

"Well, I only did play the game for thirty years. More importantly, don't taunt Jounouchi about it too badly." He's a perceptive and knowledgeable old man, I'll grant him that.

"Don't worry about him, Jounouchi can handle a little teasing. I wouldn't put up with him if he couldn't." With that I depart, and I hear the Old Man saying how much he looks forward to seeing me again. I'll bet he does.

* * *

Yamada definitely got the crowd he wanted for this duel. I could even see some entrepreneur-minded students setting up stalls, selling Duel Monsters guidebooks, drinks, snacks, and all manner of paraphernalia. Several were selling things I'd never seen before, all allegedly previously owned by me. There were a lot of girls fighting over what was clearly a limited supply. Jounouchi and Honda chided me for being "so popular", asking me if I could lend them some of my "charm". Anzu, though she tried not to let it show, let a small scowl slip as we passed by a crowd of girls cheering for "their hero." I wonder how all these people would act if they ever found out about Atem, how he was the one who fought all throughout Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. But then again, I'm the one who won the Ceremonial Battle, so if they found out, they would probably be even more impressed then they were already.

"I'm glad to see you've made it, Yuugi Mutou. I've made sure that the best space was saved for your friends. They deserve the best view of the battle, don't you think?" Jiro Yamada stood at the other end of the field, and I noticed that the area he'd indicated was a small Sakura tree. I thank him, and nod to everyone. As they head towards it, Anzu and Jonouchi Roshambo a couple of times, with Jounouchi ultimately victorious for the seat immediately beneath the tree, the best seat within the best spot. Soon everyone is settled in, and the crowds gather around us to watch. As I turn to Yamada, I notice that there's a strange bulge in his coat pocket.

"What is that?" He seems confused, but when I point to his coat, he understands.

"This is my lucky charm. When I draw my best card, I'll show it to you. Are you ready to duel?" I respond by putting my deck into my duel disc and activating it. Yamada does the same. We roshambo, and though I win, I decide to let him go first. Then we both call out the now traditional start of any duel.

"DUEL START!"

Yamada draws his hand and takes a moment to decide what to do. "All right, I set one monster, and one card. End turn." Cautious. I wouldn't have expected that, but that's how these things go sometimes. I draw my card, and go over my hand: Silent Swordsman LV3, Red Gadget, Mausoleum of the Emperor, Thousand Knives, Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Magical Hats. My strategy is already clear to me.

"I summon Silent Swordsman LV3, and I play Mausoleum of the Emperor." The Silent Swordsman appears in front of me, a child wielding an oversized sword and wearing a stylized helmet and armor. Behind me the Mausoleum appears, stone stairs leading up to a bonfire flanked by a pair of obelisks. "Silent Swordsman, attack his facedown card." The childlike swordsman moves across the field without making a sound, and his sword cuts Yamada's card in half. As it turns face up, a monkey wearing a suit of samurai armor and wielding a spear appears before disappearing in a flash of light. Yamada grins.

"Thank you Yuugi. Now that Shien's Footsoldier is in the grave, I can special summon from my deck one Six Samurai monster who's level three or less. I choose Spirit of the Six Samurai." A column of blue fire appears in place of the foot soldier, which is then wrapped in a suit of samurai's armor. It has 500 attack and defense.

"I set one card," Magical Hats, "and end my turn." Yamada draws a card, and smiles.

"The Samurai were nobility. Not a one of them had an ordinary name, and the strength of those names is in these cards. I summon Nisashi of the Six Samurai." A wind blows at the Sakura tree, and as the blossoms land in front of Yamada, A samurai armed with the traditional Daisho appears next to the spirit. "Now Spirit, become one with Nisashi!" The humanoid fire envelops the Samurai, but rather then burning him alive, he seems empowered. Sure enough, Nisashi goes from 1400 attack to 1900 as his swords become enveloped in the blue fire. "Nisashi, attack his Silent Swordsman." As his Samurai races across the field, I put my hand forward

"I activate my facedown card, Magical Hats." Silent Swordsman is covered in a giant top hat, which then splits into three. Magical Formula is beneath one, Dark Magician of Chaos the other. "You now have a one in three chance of killing my monster." Yamada seems to contemplate his choice.

"Hmm, if I'd kept Spirit separate, I would have had two chances to attack, but on the other hand, I wouldn't have been able to draw when I killed your monster. Oh well, I've made my choice. Nisashi, strike the center hat. Spirit Flame Swords!" The Samurai took his swords and tore the hat apart, burning it away with its spiritual fire.

"Sorry, but you've just destroyed Magical Formula. When it goes to the graveyard, I gain one thousand life points." My life point counter sets itself to 5000. Yamada doesn't seem worried.

"That's just as well, I get to draw a card now thinks to Spirit of the Six Samurai." He looks at the card he drew. "In fact, I'm going to set this card. End turn." As he calls out the end of battle, the hats disappear, sending Dark Magician of Chaos out of play and returning Silent Swordsman LV3 to the field. I draw my new card, Dark Magician Girl.

"First, I tribute Silent Swordsman LV3 to special summon Silent Swordsman LV5." The child is replaced with an adult, wielding an even larger sword, which he rests against his shoulder with one hand. "And now I pay one thousand life points to summon Dark Magician Girl." As my life points drop back down to 4000, the fire of the mausoleum burns with vitality, and the Dark Magician Girl flies out of it and lands in front of me. I can hear an enthused cheering from the audience, but the only cheers I really listen to are those of my friends. I thank them with a silent nod of affirmation. "Dark Magician Girl, attack Nisashi. Black Burning!" As Nisashi becomes enveloped in darkness, the blue fire enveloping him fades, but once the attack is done, Nisashi is still alive. Yamada still took 100 points of damage, dropping him to 3900 life points.

"As you've just seen, when the spirit is equipped to one of the Six Samurai, it will die in place of its partner. Of course, this does mean that Nisashi drops back down to 1400, but this is a sacrifice that the samurai is always ready to pay." He smiles at me, a disconcerting edge to his face.

"Silent Swordsman, attack Nisashi." My swordsman, with an attack of 2300, calmly walks across the field and stands in front of the samurai. Nisashi bears his neck, and Silent Swordsman raises his sword in both hands before bringing it down. Nisashi is gone now, and with him 900 of Yamada's life points, dropping him to 3000. "End Turn." Yamada grips at his lucky charm as he draws his next card.

"I'm going to show you the card I just drew. It's another Spirit of the Six Samurai. This is important because it activates my trap card, Swiftstrike Armor." A suit of Samurai Armor appears on the field, crackling with energy. "I use it to special summon the spirit that I just drew." The fiery soul is back on the field. "And now, by removing Shien's Footsoldier and the other Spirit from the graveyard, I can special summon from my hand Enishi, Shien's Chancellor." A nobleman walks onto the field, his swords in their sheaths. "Now, Spirit of the Six Samurai, become one with Enishi!" That same fire envelops Enishi only now the armor envelops him too, raising his attack from 2200 to 2700. "But before I attack, I set one monster for my normal summon. Now Enishi, show Yuugi the power of your name and kill his Silent Swordsman. Noble Blade Strike!" Enishi rushes to the center of the field and unsheathes his sword; when he does, the fire of the spirit lances from it, piercing through the Silent Swordsman's heart. I take 400 points of damage, dropping me to 3600 as my Swordsman disappears, and Yamada draws another card. "End turn." I'm not seeing things, he's definitely sharper then he was at the start of the duel. Focus, Yuugi. It's just a duel.

I draw my next card, Sage's Stone. "I now play Sage's Stone to special summon Dark Magician." The stone appears in front of the Dark Magician Girl, who smashes it with her wand to release the Dark Magician. "Now I play Thousand Knives to destroy Enishi" Dark Magician summons a swarm of knives which impale Enishi's armor, which falls apart, taking the spirit with it. "Dark Magician, attack Enishi. Black Magic!" The Dark Magician thrusts his hand forward, and Enishi freezes for a moment before shattering into pieces, doing 300 points of damage to Yamada. "Now Dark Magician Girl, attack his facedown card." Yamada grins in an almost feral manner as his monster is revealed to be the Chamberlain of the Six Samurai.

"Fine, normally you would suffer no damage, except that I activate Castle Walls to raise Chamberlain's defense to twenty-five hundred for this battle. Now you take five hundred points of damage." Now I'm at 3100, and Yamada is at 2700.

"End Turn." Yamada draws his next card.

"I once more invoke Swiftstrike Armor to special summon Irou and equip him with Lucky Iron Axe and Legendary Ebon Steed." A samurai in half-armor and wearing a visor appears, resting his sheathed sword against his shoulder. A horse made of black stone rises beneath him, and an axe drops from the sky. He catches it effortlessly, raising his attack to 2300. "And now I normal summon Yariza." A masked samurai wielding a spear appears. "Irou, attack Dark Magician Girl. Yariza, attack Yuugi directly." Irou rides up to the Dark Magician Girl and chops into her with his axe, killing her and dealing 300 points of damage to me. Then Yariza sets his spear, and a sickly green energy arcs from him to Irou before leaping past the Dark Magician, doing 1000 points of damage to me. Now I'm at 1800 life points, but my friends aren't worried. I've been in worse situations, and one draw is all it takes to turn things around. "End turn." I draw my next card, and flash a smile of my own.

"I now play Dark Magic Attack to destroy all your spells and traps." Dark Magician launches a ball of the purest night onto his side of the field, and when the day returns, Swiftstrike Armor, Legendary Ebon Steed, and Lucky Iron Axe are in the graveyard. Unfortunately, that last one let's Yamada draw another card, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. "Dark Magician, attack Yariza." As the shattering waves of magic settle on Yariza, I notice that Irou hasn't moved. Wouldn't he be better with Yariza still alive? But it's too late and Yariza is gone, bringing Yamada down to 1200 life points. "I set one card," Stronghold the Moving Fortress, "and end my turn." Yamada draws his card, and a mad glint appears in his eyes.

"Well how about that. Now I have both my favorite card and my best card in my hand. Well, first I'm going to play the best card. Eternal Mausoleum." I've never heard of that card. When he plays it, everything becomes pitch black and cold. A series of torches light themselves up on both sides of us, showing the walls of an ancient structure. As my eyes adjust, I can see that we're standing on a narrow bridge and… This is Atem's tomb. But how? I look, and I can see Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, Bakura, and Otogi standing over the pit, seemingly floating in the air. "Well, you really don't like this card, do you Yuugi. You can tell that it has a lot of power, can't you?" I can feel my hands shaking as the memories flow through them. This was where I defeated the other Bakura, where I found Atem's name.

"Where did you get that card?" I didn't realize how desperate my voice was until he started laughing.

"I'm not telling you. After all, you're going to be dead after this duel is over." What? This is feeling like a Shadow Game. But that can't be right; the Millennium Items are all gone, lost deep beneath the Earth. "And now I'm going to show you my 'lucky charm'." He reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled it out. It was a malformed golden object, the sort of thing that would be thrown away as junk. I feel the sweat pouring down my face as he turns it over, showing me the Eye of Horus that I wished wasn't there. "The old woman said this thing had magical powers, but I didn't believe her at first. Fortunately she demonstrated its power on someone else, and that was all I needed to see."

"Do you have any idea how that _thing_ was made? That thing was made by sacrificing innocent people. It's made of flesh and blood!" Yamada paws at the item.

"Meh, even if you're right, anyone who died to make this item is now a nameless nobody, like you're going to be in just a few minutes."

"Please, stop this duel. End this Shadow Game, before anymore people get hurt, we have to hurry." He barks a harsh laugh in my face.

"Please, you're just a coward, and you still don't know what this card does, so I'm going to tell you. Eternal Mausoleum allows me to special summon one monster from my graveyard during my main phase every turn, and Eternal Mausoleum can't be removed from play by _any_ effect. Now watch." The shadows beneath us stir as a ghostly shape rises from the depths of the darkness. The ghost settles in front of Yamada as the Spirit of the Six Samurai. "Now, because I have two Six Samurai monsters on the field already, I can special summon my favorite monster, the Great Shogun Shien!" The monster seems to walk out from Yamada, a towering masked samurai in red spiked armor and a cape. He holds a sword in his right hand, a simple weapon of great power. "In addition to his twenty-five hundred attack power, Great Shogun Shien will only let you activate one spell or trap card per turn. Now Spirit, become one with Shien." The fire suffuses him, becoming a light ghostly flame that follows him everywhere. "Shien, kill the Dark Magician. Supreme Spirit Sword!" Staying where he is, Shien swings the sword horizontally, and the Dark Magician falls into two before disappearing into the darkness. As I drop to 1300 life points, I can feel myself fading into the shadows. "Now Irou, finish him off." As Irou dashes across the bridge, I remember my facedown card.

"I activate Stronghold the Moving Fortress, which now becomes a 2000 defense monster under my control." Irou halts before the colossus.

"Tch, fine. I cancel my attack. Not that it matters, since you'll be dead next turn. Before I forget, I get to draw a card from the Spirit's effect. Now end turn." I close my eyes. This was _his_ trial, not mine. If he were here, then we could do it, but I'm just me.

"Come on Yuugi, kick his ass!" Jounouchi?

"You've beaten worse then this guy!" Honda?

"You know we'll never stop believing in you, Yuugi, so don't you dare stop believing in yourself!" Anzu. I turn to them, my friends, and things don't seem quite so dark. Not the night, just the dusk.

"Show that punk why _you're _the king of games!" Otogi.

"Don't let the darkness scare you, Yuugi!" Bakura. As the light of my friends shines through the dark, I draw my card.

"I play Swords of Revealing Light, and now I summon the Red Gadget." As I summon the Red Gadget, I use its effect to draw the Yellow Gadget. "End Turn."

Yamada draws another card. "I'm going to special summon Yariza back to the field, and then I'm going to normal summon Zanji. End turn." Two turns left, I'd better make them count. I draw my next card, and it's the Gold Sarcophagus.

"I summon Yellow Gadget, which allows me to draw Green Gadget, and now I play the Gold Sarcophagus. I play one card from my deck into it, and in two turns it will return to my hand." A gold box, so much like the one that the Millennium Puzzle was kept in appears on the field, and in it, I place the God of the Obelisk. "End Turn."

Yamada draws again. He grins. "Whatever you've put in that box won't do you any good. I play Fusion Sword Murasame, which increases Shien's Attack by eight-hundred points. One more turn, and then I can attack." The sword becomes one with Shien. I draw my next card, and I see my victory ahead of me.

"I play Monster Reborn, to summon the Dark Magician. Now I summon Green Gadget. End Turn." Yamada draws one last time, and smiles.

"You have thirteen-hundred life points, I have twelve-hundred. That means that when I play this Megamorph card, Shien's attack will increase to 6300. The name of Shien will live forever!" I sigh. I've seen the darkness exploit so many people. I can even remember Atem using the darkness to punish those he considered evil. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do for Yamada right now, unless…

"Yamada, what will happen to the loser of this duel, exactly?" He scoffs at me.

"I don't know why you're so curious about your fate, you _nobody_, but I'll go ahead and tell you. Your soul will be sucked into this 'item'. Your body as such will have to be tended to very quickly, but assuming access to a modern hospital, you should be able to survive in a coma. There, does that satisfy your morbid curiosity?" I take what he said very carefully, and I smile. If what he says is true, if what I suspect about that item and its maker is true, then I will be able to save Yamada from himself. "Oh before I forget, everyone but Shien is going into defense mode. End Turn." I draw my card, and I regain the God of the Obelisk.

"I now sacrifice my three gadgets to summon the God of the Obelisk!" The Gadgets disappear, and the towering God Soldier appears before me, flanked by the Stronghold and the Dark Magician. "And now I sacrifice Stronghold the Moving Fortress and the Dark Magician to activate Obelisk's special power. SOUL ENERGY MAX!" Obelisk grabs a hold of my two other monsters and crushes them, taking their power into itself. He then strikes forth a divine blow that wipes out all his monsters and his life points. Yamada flies to the far end of the field under Obelisks power. I give a quick prayer of thanks to Obelisk as he and everything else fades away. As the field comes back into view, my friends rush up to me, and I see that all the crowds that had gathered for the duel were gone.

"Yuugi, are you okay?" I nod.

"What happened to everyone else?"

"When Yamada played Eternal Mausoleum, everything got really nasty, like something really foul settling in the pits of our stomachs." Honda said with a grimace on his face. "So we didn't have much trouble getting everyone to leave. More importantly, what do we do about him?" Honda turned towards Yamada. I get up, which means that I must have fallen to my knees, and begin walking over to him. He's so still, like Jounouchi, Rishid, and Mai were after their Shadow Games. I pick up his "pseudo-millennium item", and I turn it over in my hands. There's a faint, greasy feel to it, and my hands feel momentarily numb whenever I stop touching it.

"There you guys are!" It's Mai. What's she doing here? "Once I saw Obelisk, I knew I was in the right place. I trust you didn't thrash him too badly, right Yuugi?" Jounouchi steps in front of me.

"I'm sorry Mai, but now's not a good time. See, the guy Yuugi just dueled pulled a Shadow Game on him." That seemed to really shock Mai.

"What? You mean I come all this way to kick that guy's ass and Yuugi's already beaten me to the punch? I don't believe this." Mai shoves me out of the way, a frustrated look on her face. "Wait, this isn't who I'm looking for. Who the hell is this kid?" We all look among ourselves to decide who'll speak up. It falls to me, of course. I summarize everything that had happened, from beginning to end, and then I show her the item he had.

"Huh, if he had one of those, that would explain how Roulette was able to play Shadow Games of his own. The question becomes who is the old lady he mentioned?" Jounouchi coughed theatrically.

"No, the question is who is this 'Roulette' character and why you're so interested in meeting up with him." Mai stared at him for a moment, and then she exploded in laughter.

"The hell's so damn funny Mai?" Mai wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"You know, the whole way here I was debating with myself whether or not I was going to lead you on, yet you beat me to the punch, and in the wake of a Shadow Game no less." Then Mai grabbed his cheeks and started pinching him. He tried to get her to stop, but he wasn't going to get his way this time. "To summarize as Yuugi did not a moment ago, Roulette, as he calls himself, was supposed to be my opponent in the finals over in China, but he saw fit to disappear, leaving me winner by default. I've spent the past couple of months tracking him down, and I have good reason to believe that he's here, in Domino, and that he might be targeting you guys." Mai pulled out a picture from her coat. "I don't suppose any of you have seen this man, have you?" She shows the picture to us, but none of us recognize him. Jounouchi is especially vocal about how much he didn't recognize "Roulette".

"Are you kidding me Mai? I've never seen such a short, fat, ugly, hairy character in all my life. Maybe he just ran off because he couldn't stand to be in the same room as a Prima Donna like you?" Mai responded to that one by putting Jounouchi in a headlock. Anzu coughed, interrupting the "conflict".

"Amusing as seeing Jounouchi be put in his place is we've got more important matters to attend to, like what we're going to do with Yamada." The answer is obvious, but Anzu was right. Honda and Otogi agreed to shoulder Yamada as we made our way to Domino Hospital, which fortunately wasn't very far. Everyone is silent. Having to deliver a soulless body to the hospital will do that to you.

* * *

I watch them all from a safe distance, using my binoculars to get a clear look on everything. The sight of Obelisk using his special power, followed by the arrival of that Mai Kujaku woman, tells me everything I needed to know. I take out my cell phone and contact the group. Fortunately we're all in the same city now, so the logistics aren't so damn unreasonable like when we're all scattered across the globe. I send a simple text message: Yamada failed, rush plan. I wait a few minutes, and I watch Jounouchi getting mauled by Mai before they decide to take care of Yamada, before getting everyone's responses. Fortunately, it turns out that everyone is ready to move things ahead of schedule. Divide and conquer, that's the name of this little game, and when they leave the hospital, I'll be ready to play the first move. 


	2. Chapter 2

The Nightmare From Beyond the Grave

"Do you know if Mr. Yamada had any pre-existing medical conditions?" Dr. Suwa looked at us with skepticism in his eyes, clearly prepared for us to make something up. His focus was on Mai, as she was the oldest of us and thus logically the one who would be in charge. She puts on her best face for the situation, a demure deferring one.

"I'm afraid that I don't know. I only found out about what happened afterwards. What I can tell you is that his parents need to be contacted right away." Dr. Suwa looked over at Yamada. He was hooked up to all manner of hospital machinery to both monitor and support his condition, and although I never learned any of their names, I recognized the machines from all the times that the other Bakura had stolen the souls of my old friends. Looking at Yamada, this felt exactly like those times, becoming the final nail in the coffin of my doubts.

"We're working on contacting his parents as we speak. Unfortunately, we have to go through the city registry in order to know which Jiro Yamada this Yamada is, and that will take time. Rest assured Miss Kujaku, this young man will get the best medical care we can provide." Mai played at perking up.

"That's good to hear. I've had some unfortunate dealings with doctors in the past, and I wanted to make sure that you would do your utmost for him." The doctor seemed to swell up in pride.

"As I said, you've nothing to worry about. Come hell or high water, Mr. Yamada will get the best care possible. In fact, if you give me your number, I can keep you updated on his progress." Mai chuckled, and took out a paper and pen to write down her number. After giving the number to him, she waved goodbye and escorted us out of Yamada's room. Jounouchi didn't even have a chance to go off on Mai before she spoke to him.

"Just to keep things clear Jounouchi, I just kept him from ever asking us any uncomfortable questions about how a healthy young man could go into a coma from dueling, and any suspicions that he may develop will be directed to me, and I will have no difficulty disarming him of them. You got that?" Jounouchi smiled at Mai.

"Yeah, I got that. I wasn't worried, not really. Now let's get to Yuugi's place so that we can start working on finding out what the hell's going on." It was good that Jounouchi and Mai were able to keep a good mood in this situation, it seemed almost infectious. Everyone seemed much more optimistic then we were only a moment ago. There was still a lot to do of course, but everyone felt ready for whatever was going to happen next.

"So Yuugi." Anzu spoke up as we made our way down the lobby. "You feeling any better?" He smiled back at her, only a little bit forced.

"Yeah, I am." She smiled back, only a little forced. That was the environment we were in as we made our way out of the hospital, facing the sun.

"Ryou? Is that you Ryou?" That was weird. Everyone called me by my family name. Who could it possibly be? I turned in the direction of the voice and… it couldn't be. I had to be seeing things; I haven't been getting enough sleep, that's what was happening.

"Woah." Honda seemed to see her too. "Bakura, you never told us you had a sister." So I wasn't imagining things. There she was, just across the street, her short white hair framing her face, her blouse and skirt combination coordinated to her green eyes, and now she's walking to me, as though she's never been gone, as though she'd just been on a shopping trip and ran into me unexpectedly.

"You mean my brother never mentioned me to any of you? For shame, Ryou. You know I never tried to hide you from any of my friends." It's a good thing that I'm so practiced at smiling, that we had just come out from the hospital. Otherwise, Yuugi might have realized that there was something wrong with my face.

"Well Amane, you have to remember the things I've told you about in my letters. We were often very busy, so there wasn't really any opportunity to bring you up." I say this, knowing that she had to be an imposter of some sort. I never sent any of the letters that I wrote; there was never any point to it, since the real Amane was dead. But if she was shocked by my statement, she didn't show it. Instead, she pouted, a look I was most familiar with.

"So I guess nothing's happened in the last six months, since you haven't written me once since your last letter." I know my face gave me away now. Yuugi and the others knew that something was wrong, though they couldn't possibly imagine the truth.

"Bakura" Yuugi said, "is that true? You haven't spoken with your sister in six months?" I nod, not trusting my voice to be loyal to me. How was this possible? How could she know? She couldn't be here, it was impossible. I saw her body; I saw her ashes, I ran from the funeral, so how could she be here, so very close to me again?

"Well Ryou, it looks like we've got some catching up to do. I hope you guys don't mind, but I'd like my brother to myself for awhile. Afterwards, I'm sure we can all get to know each other much better." Everyone seemed reluctant to respond. So help me, I didn't even know what I wanted. If it really was her, if she had somehow come back to me, then I had to find out more, but if I were alone with her, how could I stay her brother, like I was supposed to be? But then Honda made my decision for me.

"I don't know if your brother told you, Amane, but we've actually given him a pretty hard time. I think we owe him this. Come on guys, let's get over to Yuugi's place and figure out the plan." Honda, you think you're doing me a favor, and I see why. You never really trusted me after Duelist Kingdom, so that's why you feel you owe me. The others agree to his proposition, and they head off towards Yuugi's house, leaving me alone with Amane. She looks at me with a pure smile on her face.

"Come on brother, I've already figured out where we're going to go." She grabs my arm and pulls me along, and it takes everything I have to keep myself from exploiting that.

"So, where are we going?" I try to establish some sense of understanding, of control to this situation.

"Wait until we get there. Then we can talk, just like we used to." Like we used to, back before I ruined everything, before she died.

* * *

"First things first, I have to call Isis. There are things that only she would know, and without that, we can't make a good plan. So please, hold on everyone, hopefully this won't take too long." Yuugi heads up to his room to make the call. I can't believe that this is happening to us again. I thought that the Shadow Games were gone, that the Millennium Items were gone, and that _he_ was gone. If the games are coming back, if that melted slag of gold was a real Millennium Item, then would that mean that Atem was somehow coming back too? No! He couldn't be. It was horrible having to say goodbye to him, to know that there was nothing I could do to make him stay, but it was right, damn it. He didn't belong with us, with me, so if he were to come back, we would end up having to say goodbye _again_, and I don't know if I could handle that.

"Yo, Anzu." Otogi is all of three inches away from my face. "Did you hear anything of what we said?" I shake my head.

"I'm sorry, I guess I spaced out there. What were you saying?" Otogi looked at me critically for a moment, but it passed.

"We were just discussing what our dinner plans were going to be. No since in heading after a group of Shadow Game wielding lunatics on an empty stomach, you know? So what do you want?" I nod, and think that that goes double for worrying about whether the dead guy you loved might be coming back to life and whether you could handle that.

"Well, I'd just like a salad, nothing too fancy." That's probably all I can safely stomach right now. I watch my friends for a while, savoring that simple camaraderie that we all share. It's particularly amusing to see Grandpa Mutou practically wait Mai on hand and foot. It makes me think of how Yuugi responded when he first saw her. Yeah, I was irritated, but really, what was I worried about? Even then, she never made a pretense of doing anything other then teasing; just another sign that I was nowhere near ready for love, but that's nothing new.

"What do you mean you don't have any curry?" Jounouchi was addressing Grandpa Mutou.

"I'm sorry, but it's just not good for my heart. You understand, don't you Jounouchi?" He just shook his head.

"Sorry old man, but if we're going to burn our way through these guys, then I'm going to need a blazing hot fire in my belly. I'm going to head down to the grocery store." Honda and Otogi stepped in front of him as he was about to head out.

"Dude, you can't head out on your own. What if you run into someone with a Millennium Item?" Honda had a good point, though Jounouchi's response was reasonable for once.

"Please, what are the odds that some creepy cultist is going to be hanging around a grocery store and waiting for me to come get some curry?" Otogi was unmoved.

"Sorry, we can't risk it." I saw that look in Jounouchi's eyes, and there was no way he was going to back down. Otogi must have seen it too. "All right, you can go, but only if Honda and I come along to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Jounouchi found that acceptable, and so the three of them left. I took a look at the stairs. Yuugi still hadn't come down. Whatever Isis is telling him, I hope it will help him. He deserves all the help he can get.

* * *

We've been very quiet as we walked, Amane and me. The truth is that there isn't much that I do want to say. So long as I can feel her arm as she pulls me along, then it doesn't really matter where she's taking me. This really is like the old days, before she died. I still don't understand how she can be here, but more and more, it matters not to me. Every so often we have to stop at a red light, and when we do, she lingers before letting go of me, but only for a moment. "Don't worry brother, we're almost there, and then we can really talk again." I smile, I really am smiling. I can't remember when I've been so honestly and unreservedly happy, but I know that it must have been this way, back when we were still young and innocent. As we cross yet another street, I begin to feel that I can vaguely recall where we are, but it's only a shadow of a shadow. Speaking of shadows, the sun is getting lower in the sky, and when I glance behind us, I can see our shadows merging behind us. I try not to, not wanting to inspire those corrupt thoughts in myself.

"We're here." Now I'm broken from my thoughts, and now I can see where we are.

"This is… a graveyard?" Amane walks over to one of the tombstones.

"That's right. Of course, I don't have a grave, since I was cremated. Not that that matters, since I found my way back, from the other side. I even have a new body now, and I can tell that you approve of it, dear brother." A shadow has fallen down her face.

"Amane, what are you saying?" She turns away from me.

"Do you have any idea, how painful it is to die? It hurts, brother. The quicker it comes, the more intense the pain and my death was almost instantaneous. All this time you've been writing to me, and not once have you considered how it felt to me. Nor did you ever own up to killing me."

"What? No, that was an accident, you were with mom, how can you blame me, I'd never wanted anything to happen to you." She laughs, with a cold edge that burns through my ears.

"Ah, but you did want me dead. After all, how could you want anything else to happen to the one you blamed for cursed soul? You lusted after me, and you had the audacity to blame me for it."

"No, that isn't true. I never blamed you; I could never blame you for anything."

"Why, because you _love_ me? Some love. You made sure I knew of your feelings, you made sure that I would lay awake at night, wondering whether your sense of decency would break. So when Mom and I were in the car, returning from her shopping trip, I shuddered, ever so briefly, but it was enough for her to notice, and it was enough to take her eyes off the road. That's why we were hit, that's why we died, and that's why you need to suffer for your crime." She reaches behind the tombstone, and pulls out a pair of Duel Discs.

"You, you can't possibly mean to…" She puts on her Duel Disc and places her deck inside. She shoves the other into my hands, and then opens up her backpack to take out a Millennium Item.

"Yes, we're going to play a Shadow Game. I'm going to make sure that you can feel the full weight of your crime. Now hurry up, and put in your deck so we can start." She's serious. I can see it in her eyes; she means everything she's said. I can feel the shadows gathering around us, directed by her Millennium Item. There's no way out of this; I'm going to have to fight her, I'm going to have to fight my sister, I'm going to have to fight _Amane_. The Duel Disc almost slips out of my hands as I put it on; the cards are slick as I put them in the slot. I look at her, and I see so much hate in her eyes. "Why don't you go first, brother?" I look away as I draw my card, and I look at my hand: Magical Merchant, Night Assailant, Dark Snake Syndrome, Doomcaliber Knight, Dark Spirit Art – Greed, and Zoma the Spirit. Maybe with these cards, I can get her to understand that she's wrong about me, about everything.

"I set one monster" Magical Merchant, "one card" Dark Spirit Art - Greed, "and I play Dark Snake Syndrome." The moment I play it, I feel a constricting pain across my right arm, and I see that Amane is the same. We pull down our sleeves, and on our arms are snakes embedded in our flesh. "Every turn during our standby phase, we will suffer damage, two hundred points at first, but each turn the damage will double. Don't you understand Amane? Hurting you is hurting me. Please, understand me. End Turn." She draws a card, and once she does, I feel an intense pain rushing through my arm. I can see the snake writhing in my arm, and as it does, my flesh begins to rot away. I look at Amane, and she's in the same shape.

"You see how cruel you are, brother?" She raises her now rotten left arm. "When we suffer damage, our bodies will decay and rot, until they are like the corpses that surround us. But I have no intention in joining you in this pain, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to bring this spell to a close. De-Spell." She plays the card, and the writhing snakes are gone. "I set one card, and now I summon the Gemini Summoner." A Wizard in a green robe appears before her, his eyes leering at me from beneath his horned mask. "Gemini Summoner, attack his monster. Gemini Assault!" It traces the finger of its right hand in an intricate sigil and thrusts through it with his wand, destroying my monster, a humanoid beetle carrying many goods.

"Unfortunately for you, that activates his special ability. I pick up cards from the top of my deck until I get a spell or trap card. I draw that card, and send the rest to the graveyard." As it turns out, I had a lot of monsters ahead of me: Legendary Fiend, Chaos Necromancer, Ultimate Obedient Fiend, Berserk Dragon, Spirit Reaper, Pyramid Turtle, Lich Lord the King of the Underworld, Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower, and Vampire Genesis. My final card is A Deal with Dark Ruler.

"So you weren't just satisfied with sending me to my death, you have to send them all to die, just to save your worthless hide. Typical. End turn."

I draw my next card, Tutan Mask. "I set one card" Zoma the Spirit, "and now I summon Doomcaliber Knight to attack your Gemini Summoner." An armored skeleton riding on a dead horse and wielding a wicked sword rises from the ground in front of me and it rushes to her wizard, bringing the sword down his head, but when the blow is struck, Gemini Summoner disappears and reappears, no worse for wear. Then my Doomcaliber Knight becomes a spirit and envelops her monster, and now they are both gone. I still did 400 points of damage though. I know, because her other arm is completely putrid.

"Well wasn't that fun? Of course, I don't like this rotting sensation, so I'm going to take care of that. Activate Chain Healing." She regains five hundred life points, and only her hand shows any sign of death. I look at my arm, still diseased.

"End turn." I may not appear to have any monsters, but I still have Zoma the Spirit. She can't afford to attack me. She draws her next card, and looks at it.

"I set two cards, and now I summon Magical Reflect Slime." A putrid blob, smelling like burning flesh rises from the ground. "When I summon him again next turn, any battle damage I would suffer will be inflicted upon you. Do you have anything you'd like to do about that?" She's not going to attack, not unless I have a monster on the field.

"I do. I activate Zoma the Spirit and summon him to the field." A skeletal creature reminiscent of a gargoyle appears, crouching behind his claws.

"I knew you had something like that. End turn." I draw my card, Malice Doll of Demise, and I look at her face. She's not afraid at all. She has to have a trap, one that will either stop me in my tracks, or destroy my monsters. No matter what, I can't afford to let her get that second summon off.

"I summon the Night Assailant and tribute him to activate Dark Spirit Art – Greed, allowing me to draw two new cards." A circle surrounds Night Assailant, and when the kanji for greed cuts through him, he disappears. I draw Deal of Phantom and Book of Life. "Zoma, attack her Magical Reflect Slime." My monster lurches to hers, and is about to bring his claw down when she activates her card.

"I activate my spell card, Super Double Summon!" As Zoma cuts into the slime, it reappears right in front of me before exploding, covering me in its residue. The slime fades away, but where it touched me, my flesh has become rotten as my life points dropped to 2700. "Do you understand now, brother? Now that your crimes are being visited upon _you_, do you feel the suffering you brought on us?" Amane, I can't blame you for feeling this way, not now, not ever. I just have to reach you.

"I end my turn." She draws another card, and her face becomes tight with joy.

"How perfect, but which card to play first? I know; I'll play the face-down card first. I activate Swing of Memories." The graveyard, and everything else, disappears as it is all replaced by a cliff face, with a tree that has a swing tied to it, and on it, a little girl. I find myself drawn to her, but the moment I take a step, the girl dissolves into the Magical Reflect Slime. Then the reality returns, of this horrid battle. "Now I'm going to activate my other card, Eternal Mausoleum." The pharaoh's tomb surrounds us now, an even more complete environment of death then the one we were in before.

"How, how did you get _that _card?" She looks at me skeptically.

"I should think it obvious. The same place Yamada got his card. I was wandering for so long, ever since Yuugi had opened the door to the Afterlife, ever so briefly. Fortunately, the old woman took me in, and gave me what I needed to bring about justice against you. But enough about that; I'm using Eternal Mausoleum's effect to summon Gemini Summoner in defense mode, and now I'm going to normal summon Magical Reflect Slime again, and now he's going to attack Zoma." The slime rushed eagerly into Zoma's mouth, and as it dies, the slime appeares above me, dousing my chest and arms in its burning fumes. I have 1600 life points left, and now more then half my body is dead. "End Turn."

I draw a new card, Ectoplasmer. "I now play Book of Life to remove Magical Reflect Slime from your graveyard, and to summon Spirit Reaper from my graveyard in defense mode." The reaper is invincible in battle, and with her slime gone, she shouldn't be able to get past my defenses anymore. "And now I summon Malice Doll of Demise, and have him and Zoma attack your Gemini Summoner." Zoma maims him, and the Doll finishes him off. "I don't want to hurt you, Amane, so please, please stop this duel. I set one card," Deal of Phantom, "and end my turn." She scorns me with her eyes, and she draws her card with something approaching glee.

"You think your safe, now that you have Spirit Reaper and have gotten rid of Magical Reflect Slime. Allow me to show you the error of your ways, brother. I play double summon to bring out the full power of Shadow Delver." A man appears in the distance, his demonic shadow extending onto the field. "By summoning Shadow Delver twice, he can attack you directly, ignoring all your monsters. Shadow Delver, use Darkness of the Grave." It only takes a moment for the shadow to surround me completely, slamming me into the ground and halfway burying me into the ground before the attack ceases. As I get up, I can feel my heart straining to beat, my bones creak as they try to support me, and most of my hair has fallen out, my face a complete ruin. "And just to remind you, I'm going to use Eternal Mausoleum to bring back Gemini Summoner in defense mode. End Turn." I look at my hand. There's no more hope for me. I'm practically dead on my feet, next turn I will be, and I deserve it. I see the stain of death that I left on Amane, and I know that I don't deserve to live, not after that.

"Draw." Who said that? It wasn't Amane, and there's no one else here, except for the corpses.

"Draw, and end this nightmare." There it is again. Where was that voice coming from? It's almost like the other Bakura, but it doesn't feel wrong the way he does. It feels like I can really trust the voice, like it's looking out for me. I accept it, and draw my card, and even without looking, I know what it is; Recurring Nightmare. "I play Recurring Nightmare to draw Berserk Dragon and Chaos Necromancer from my graveyard. Now I summon Chaos Necromancer." A towering figure appears over me, with dozens of threads extending from his fingers, with each thread connected to a monster in my graveyard, for a total attack power of 2700. "And now I activate my trap card, Deal of Phantom." A spirit clothed in the purest white appears behind the Chaos Necromancer, placing a necklace with a purple gem around his neck, raising his attack to 3600. A strong monster, to be sure, but that couldn't explain the sheer shock that was on Amane's face. She was practically shrieking at the phantom.

"YOU? How the hell did you get here? You're nothing but ashes!" I look up and behind me, and there she was, the most beautiful girl I had ever known.

"A… Amane? But, I thought… how?" She looks down at me, and I realize that she can see me. I turn to the other Amane, still speaking to the phantom. "No, don't look at me. I'm a monster; I killed you, all because of my cursed soul." But then I feel her take me in her arms.

"Brother, please don't believe that. I've been trying to reach you for so long, so please, look at me." I feel disarmed of all my shame and I look at her. I can see myself in her eyes, not as a filthy ruin of death, but as the happy boy I once was. Now I think I can finally say what I couldn't write for six months.

"Amane, for so long I couldn't admit to myself how much I missed you. Forgive me, but even now I still love you. I want you to know that I've done so many horrible things, because I could never come to terms with the fact that you were gone, because I could never accept my feelings for you. But now I'm going to stop running. When this is over, I'm going to go back to your shrine, and I'm going to mourn you properly, and then I'm going to fix my life. Do you really think I can do it, Amane?" She looks at me, so beneficently, and for a moment I feel like my love for her is as it should be. Then I heard another voice, so quiet I almost missed it.

"Bastard." My sister and I turn in the direction of the voice, to the other Amane. "You sick bastard. You could have fallen in love with anyone else, and I would have been happy for you, but no, you had to love _her_!" Her voice has changed completely, and in the arms of my sister, I can recall a memory of an old friend of ours.

"Chono? Akai Chono? Is that you?" She laughs so bitterly.

"So you do remember me. I would have thought that you'd forgotten all about me. After all, I'm not Amane, am I?"

"Chono, I don't understand, why are you doing this? Why did you pretend to be Amane?" She laughs, so bitterly.

"How rich. Ryou Bakura deigns to ask why I would ever pretend to be his precious, beloved sister, for even a moment. I'd have to be crazy to ever want to be with you, wouldn't I? I mean, the other Bakura did trap me and everyone else into those damn miniatures of yours, but that didn't do anything to change the strength of my feelings for you, only their direction. After I woke up from a sleep that seemed to last forever, I wandered for a while, trying to figure out some way that I could pay you back for what you did to me, and that's when I met her." Now my sister, my real sister, speaks.

"Who is "she"?" Chono pauses to contemplate.

"The only name I ever heard was Dopol. She was a woman of uncommon wealth and power. I found myself drawn to her, and she promised me that if I gathered souls for her, then I could do whatever I wanted to do to you. How could I say no? That's when she gave me this 'Pseudo-Millennium Item' as she called it, and she even gave me my own code name. 'Dual', that's what she called me. There were five others, aside from that Yamada kid, but they didn't matter. After getting her the souls that she wanted, she let me have the money I needed to surgically alter my appearance to match _hers_." She said with a jab of her fingers towards Amane.

"But, how did you know, about the letters?" She shrugged.

"I snuck into your apartment while you were at school. You keep them all in a neat little stack in your desk, so it wasn't hard to figure out what you were doing." I turn back to Amane.

"So, what she said about the crash…?"

"It was a lie. It was an accident, nothing more, nothing less. You can't blame yourself for what happened. Please, live, for me." Chono started laughing again.

"Live, she says to a walking shambling corpse that houses a sick and twisted soul. You forget that we're still in the middle of a Shadow Game, and even with your Chaos Necromancer, you still can't do enough damage to defeat me before I have Shadow Delver finish you off. Don't worry Amane, I don't want him anymore. You can have your filthy bastard brother after I kill him, though I can't see why you would want him anymore." I look to Amane, and she points at Ectoplasmer.

"But, if I play that, what will happen to you?"

"You'll be saying good-bye, and then you can finally be the brother that I knew and loved all those years ago." I cry into her arms, a futile effort. They pass right through her.

"Before I attack, I play Ectoplasmer. Chaos Necromancer, attack. Puppetmaster of Death!" Every monster in my grave descends upon the true Shadow Delver in the distance, too far for me to see what they do, but in moments it is gone. As Chono's life points drop from 3900 to 1800, her face becomes wretched. I take one last look at Amane, and she smiles. I thank her, too quietly to be heard. "Now I tribute Chaos Necromancer to activate Ectoplasmer, and I attack you for eighteen hundred points of direct damage." Amane gathers the souls of all my monsters into herself, and for a moment she looks alive again. Then she turns into light, and shoots right through Chono, finishing her off. Chono shrieks as her soul is claimed, and the darkness fades away, leaving us both in the graveyard, where we started. I look at her, and her body is normal again, as is mine. Now, for the first time, I cry unreservedly, unafraid of my feelings.

I pick up her Pseudo-Millenium Item, and then I see a cell phone in her bag. Before I use it to contact the hospital, I remove her Duel Disc, and throw it as far as I can, making sure that this won't be immediately connected to Yamada's case. I disguise my voice in case the person at the other end recognizes it. Then I start running for Yuugi's house. I need to warn him, I need to tell him everything I found out. Thank you Amane, for saving me from myself.

* * *

Hmm, according to the satellite readouts, that's the second time that that card has been played in Domino. That confirms that they've gathered here, as I knew they would. Just a little more patience; it shouldn't be long before Yuugi calls, asking for my help, and when he does, I'll be more then willing to offer it. Hopefully he'll have the good sense to call me _after_ I get done with my five o' clock appointment. I wonder whether my appointment realizes that he's walking into _my_ trap? Either way, this game is already proving most amusing. I call up Mokuba, telling him to be ready for his part of the plan. It's a small one, but an important one. 


	3. Chapter 3

The Raging Fire of Betrayal

"Light Hot Curry, Medium Sweet Curry, Light Sweet Curry, Medium Sweet and Hot Curry; damn it all, where's the Heavy Hot Curry?" Otogi turns to me, sighing as he rests his hand on his head.

"Is he always like this when he goes shopping for curry, or am I just lucky today?"

"You're lucky. Usually he's in and out inside of five minutes. The fact that he's actually going for a particular variety means that he's pretty worried." Otogi yawns.

"Well why wouldn't he be worried? There's only some old woman out there who's cranking out Millennium Items and for reasons yet unknown sent someone to try and kill Yuugi." I whack the pretty boy in the back of the head.

"Keep it down. You want to make us look crazy and tip off anyone who might be connected to this whole thing? Just keep an eye out for anyone who has a killer instinct to them. That's who we've got to watch out for." Otogi stopped complaining, which meant that I could focus on what we had to do. Every minute Jounouchi kept looking for just the right kind of curry was another minute closer to someone jumping us. As I'm gauging a particularly disreputable looking punk, I hear Jounouchi say something weird.

"Excuse me; I saw the Heavy Hot Curry first. Go find your own, lady." I turned, and fighting with Jounouchi over the box was a black-haired woman in her early twenties.

"No, I found it first. Who are you that you think you deserve this stuff more then I do?" I sigh. I can't believe that we're being waylaid by something so pathetic.

"Honda." Otogi whispers to me, "Is it just me, or does it seem like Jounouchi attracts shrews to himself? Maybe it's because his sister is so sweet that the world is so cruel to him." Tempted as I am to argue with Otogi, especially about Shizuka, I have a job to do, and so I resume scanning to store for our invisible attackers. Jounouchi must have told the girl who he was, because all I could hear was a high pitched sqeel.

"You mean _you're_ Katsuaya Jounouchi, semi-finalist at Duelist Kingdom and quarter finalist at Battle City?" Great, now he's going to get an ego-stroking, this is definitely going to speed up our little shopping trip, I'm sure of it. I don't even need to be looking at Jounouchi to know that he's already puffing up his chest.

"Yep, the one and only. I'm also close personal friends with the champion himself, Yuugi Mutou."

"That's sweet, but you don't need to bring him up. He's way too out of my league, on the dueling field or off. I was wondering, do you suppose we could fit in a duel, just the two of us?" I take my eyes off this one guy with a really pointed nose and focus on the woman.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I can't duel you right now. Prior obligations, you understand, right? Maybe if you give me your number, we can arrange a duel some other time?" The woman sighs.

"Ah, you really mean that? You sure you can't fit in some time for me now?"

"Tempted as I am, that really isn't a good idea, not for me, and not for you. I can't explain why, on account of you wouldn't believe me, but trust me, this is for the best." The woman looks at her watch, and begins to walk away, seeming to have forgotten all about the curry they'd been fighting over.

"Oh well. I wonder, is dueling skill genetic?"

"Eh?" Otogi said, "What do you mean by that?" She stops, still facing away from us.

"Well, if Jounouchi is a great duelist, then maybe his sister is a great duelist too." Jounouchi took the words out of my mouth.

"How do you know about my sister? I never mentioned her." She turned around, her eyes seemingly burning with a fire behind them.

"Shizuka Kawai, born with poor vision that deteriorated as she grew older, she was saved by her older brother who'd participated in the Duelist Kingdom tournament to earn the money necessary for her treatment at the Yonezato Hospital. Yes, I know all about her. The real question is who are you? How is it that someone who claims to be a 'True Duelist' can foist off his enemies onto his little sister, to whom he is beholden to protect? Well, how about it, Jounouchi?" Shit! I knew this was a bad idea. I'm definitely getting a bad vibe off of her, but it wasn't there before. It's like she's changed into a whole new person.

"Fine, if you're so eager to get clobbered, then we're going to do this right now. To be honest, I was kind of hoping that I'd run into one of you people. This just saves me the trouble of having to track you guys down. Nobody attacks my friends and gets away with it." She smiles, and then barks an order to the man behind the counter.

"Oi, old man, I'm going to need the things I told you to hold onto." The clerk got down on his knees, complaining about his bad back, and when he got up, he had a pair of Duel Discs. She took them, and gave him two-thousand Yen for his trouble. "I've already got the place for our duel in mind. Follow me, it won't take long to get there." She gives Jounouchi one of the Duel Discs, and then marches out of the store as she puts hers on. We follow after her, far enough behind her that we can talk among ourselves.

"What did we tell you Jounouchi? Didn't we say that this was going to happen?" He waves me off.

"Relax would you? Didn't you hear what she said earlier? Yuugi is way out of her league, and even if it was only the one time, I did manage to beat the other Yuugi. Plus, the fact that she's threatening Shizuka means she doesn't have any real strength of her own. Trust me, this one's in the bag." He put the Duel Disc on, and I couldn't help feeling a little confident myself. His feelings were just a bit infectious that way.

* * *

I can only speculate at what my grandson is asking Isis. I may not have participated in Yuugi's adventures beyond having my soul stolen by Pegasus, but I know things, things that I still haven't told him. The fact is that while the Millennium Items were the primary source of the Shadow Games, there have been powers all around the world that have tapped into the shadows. The Dragon Cards that Imori had brought to the store that one time, and the Devil's Board Game that Otogi's father had challenged me to for the Millennium Puzzle are but two scant examples in the vast world of gaming. Maybe if I'd said something earlier, Yuugi would have been able to prepare for this better, and we wouldn't feel so blindsided, in the dark about what was going to happen next.

"Sugoroku, my drink's getting low. Could you be a dear and get me a refill?" Still, today hasn't been all bad. That Mai Kujaku is simply something else. Not just beautiful and confident, she also has a good sense of humor, so long as I don't leer too much. She certainly knew how to keep up a good spirit even in dark times like these. After I fill her glass, I glance over to Anzu. The poor girl hadn't looked away from Yuugi's room the entire time she's been here. Yuugi's told me about how Anzu would always cheer him and the Pharaoh on, keeping his spirits high, but I don't see that girl right now.

"Maybe you should go talk to her Mai? She seems down." She looks at Anzu, and waves the idea off.

"Nah, if it were the other way around, I'd think you were onto something. The fact is that if she's down, there's only one person who can get her to feeling better, and that someone is shut up in his room right now." I nod. Mai was a very perceptive woman. She'd only met Yuugi and his friends briefly during two tournaments, yet she'd managed to grasp so much of the dynamic between them all. Still, I don't think it would have hurt for Mai to try. Suddenly I hear a strange beeping sound. Mai reaches for her pocket and pulls out her cell phone.

"Hello, who is this?" I watch, but I can't hear what the person on the other end is saying. All Mai will say are things like 'really' and 'you don't say', nothing informative. She eventually thinks the person at the other end and hangs up. "Anzu." She acts like a girl interrupted from a daydream.

"Yes, Mai?" Mai smiles at the younger girl.

"I've just gotten a lead on that Roulette bastard. Let Yuugi and the other's know that while I'll appreciate their presence in spirit, I don't want anyone chasing after me. This is a duel, and _I_ need to be the one to win this." Anzu got up to intercept Mai.

"Mai wait, you remember what happened the last time you went after someone with a Millennium Item on your own. Please, wait for everyone to get back."

"Sorry hon, no doing. Just relax, and if you really feel like it, you can say a quick prayer for me. I'd actually appreciate that. I know that you'd put a lot of spirit behind it, so it won't have any problem breaking through the shadows." Anzu looked away. "Hey, no worrying allowed from you. We're all going to make it through this just fine, so stay positive. Well, I'll see you when I get back." With that, Mai walked out the front door. Now it was just the three of us. It should have been four, but Yuugi's mother was with a friend of hers, and wouldn't be back for two more days. Now Anzu and I are waiting, waiting for Yuugi to come down with news, good or bad, about whom this new enemy is.

* * *

We've been walking for awhile now. That damn woman, where the hell does she get off threatening my sister just to duel me? I know what I said to Honda earlier, but the fact is that the casual way she mentioned Shizuka scared me. This wasn't a move born of desperation; it was a calmly calculated maneuver, one that had happened right underneath my nose, and I didn't get a whiff of it before she showed it to me. It reminds me of the time when I dueled Mai, how she scented her cards so that she didn't have to see them in order to know what they were, but this woman went one step further, and kept me from seeing her cards too.

"Hey, Jounouchi, doesn't this place seem familiar?" Honda's words get me to pay attention to my surroundings, and I look at where we are. It's the bad part of town, where gangs usually hang out. Wait, is that… it is. That's the warehouse where Hirutani kept trying to kill me. What the hell is she doing bringing us here? As we step inside, the woman snaps her fingers, and a huge bonfire appears right in the middle of the whole place. As my eyes adjust to the new light, I notice two people near the fire. I can recognize one of them…

"SHIZUKA!" That bitch that dragged us here starts laughing.

"Ah, I'm so glad you noticed. Don't worry, I haven't harmed her. Well, unless you count drugging her, abducting her, and keeping her from leaving under her own recognizance to be harm. Don't worry though, now that you're here, you can keep her safe from me." I ignore her and rush over to Shizuka.

"Shizuka, are you okay? Did she hurt you?" She looks at me with tears in her eyes.

"Brother, are you really here? I'm so sorry; I was walking home when that Prometheus woman came up to me and started asking me about you. I tried to get away from her, but she pricked me with something, and when I came to, I was here. She said that if I tried to escape she would do to me what she did to her brother." Brother? I look over to the other end of the fire, where Shizuka was looking, and there's another man, with long black hair and in an expensive business suit that certainly wasn't going to see the light of day again. Prometheus, as Shizuka called her, leered down at us.

"How touching, the bond between brother and sister; it just reaches you right here, doesn't it?" she said gesturing to her heart, "Unless of course, you had a real rat-bastard of a brother, in which case it gets you right here." Now she grabs her stomach. "But enough of the saccharine, we have more important matters to attend to, like our Shadow Game." She brings out her Millennium Item out of a bag that she wore on her hip, and already I can feel things getting hotter then they already were.

"Fine, you'll get your game, and you're going to regret it, Prometheus." As I lock my duel disc into place, I feel a chink in my side. When I look down, there are a pair of chains coming out of me; One of them is attached to Shizuka, and the other is somewhere in that huge fire. I'm about to yell at Prometheus, when I notice that she has chains of her own, binding her to her brother and the fire.

"You were going to say something about how unfair I was being, weren't you? If there's one thing I know about the Shadow Games, they are cruel in their fairness. I don't think I need to explain what will happen if you lose, so let's get this started. You go first." I look at Shizuka, and when our eyes meet, I know we're thinking the same thing, that we're going to make it out of here, together. Otogi and Honda yell to me, and when I look, they quickly flash me the V sign. I'm ready for this duel now.

I draw my hand and look it over: Little-Winguard, Mad Sword Beast, Rocket Warrior, Graceful Dice, Kunai with Chain, Take One Chance. I take a moment to go over the plan in my head, and make my move. "I set one monster," Little-Winguard, "and set two more cards and end my turn." Graceful Dice and Kunai with Chain should be able to throw Prometheus off. She draws her card, and smirks.

"Tell me, have either of you," she points to me and Shizuka, "ever seen _Grave of the Fireflies_?" I look at Shizuka, hoping she'd know what that woman was talking about, but I can see that she doesn't. "You haven't? How ignorant you two are. To summarize, it is the story of a brother and a sister whose hometown is firebombed near the end of World War Two, and their struggle to survive. They both die. Why? The brother is such a wellspring of pride that he can't ever do the right thing for his sister." She spits on the body of her brother. "I wonder if you'll be able to do any better. I play Burden of the Mighty." Another chain appears, this one connecting Shizuka to my Monster, dropping Little-Winguards attack down from 1400 to 1000. "Let's see how well you can handle this. I set one card, and I summon Molten Zombie and equip him with Burning Spear. Attack his facedown monster. Molten Rush!" Crap, now that monster has an attack of 2000. Fortunately, he's also only got a defense of 200, which will be coming into play in just a moment.

"I activate Kunai with Chain." Molten Zombie's spear gets caught in the chain, forcing him into defense position, and raising my monster's attack by 500 points.

"Hmm, that's a fairly decent move, one worthy of someone who made it into the top eight at Battle City. End Turn." Did she just make a slight at me? Focus Jounouchi, don't let her get to you. My real problem is that burden card. Because of it, all my monsters are going to lose 100 attack points for every level they have. I just need to make sure she can't summon anything big, and I'll be golden. I draw my next card, Magical Arm Shield, and make my move.

"First I summon the Mad Sword Beast." A creature like a cross between a rhino and a turtle appears, and another chain appears, connecting it to my sister, dropping his attack from 1400 to 1000. "And now I play Graceful Dice." A tiny imp tosses a die as big as itself, rolling a five, giving both of my monsters an additional 500 attack points. More importantly, Mad Sword Beast still does damage even when the enemy monster is in defense mode. "Mad Sword Beast, take out that Molten Zombie." As my monster rushes forward, Prometheus smirks at me.

"Of course that's what you do. Activate trap card, Final Attack Orders." Molten Zombie's eyes shine and he runs his spear through my monster, dealing 500 points of damage to me. Suddenly Shizuka and I are pulled off our feet as our chains contract, bringing us closer together, and to the fire. "Quite the nasty little trap, isn't it? All our monsters have to remain in attack mode, but yours will always be weaker then mine, all because of your burden. Really, how did someone like _you_ ever reach the top eight in Battle City?" That's it, there's no way I'm letting her get away with that where my sister can hear her.

"Listen up; Shizuka is _not_ a burden to me. I wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as I am without her, and I made it to the top four in Battle City. So don't think that you can mess with my head, because it's not going to happen." Prometheus looks really strange through the heat of the fire; her hair is flying up like a little black fire of its own.

"Hmm, it does make sense that if you can lie to your sister and all your friends, then you can lie to me. Let's how well you've worked out your story then; who did you beat in order to reach the top four?" In spite of myself, I dip my head in remembrance of him.

"His name was Rishid, and he was one of the best duelists I've ever known."

"I see, and what card did you play to win? Was it a monster, a spell, or a trap?"

"It wasn't like that, he..."

"He threw the match, is that what you're saying? That's what it sure as hell looked like. After all, his Selket had 5225 attack points after eating your Jinzo, Legendary Fisherman, and Baby Dragon. How else could he have lost, hmm?" What the hell? How did she know about that? "Face it, you call yourself a True Duelist, but that's a lie. That's why you couldn't win against Mailik, even though all you had to do was summon Gearfried the Iron Knight, which you'd just drawn. You couldn't keep up the lie, so you gave in, using his Shadow Game as an excuse to cover for your weakness."

"SHUT UP! I set one face down card" Magical Arm Shield, "and end my turn."

"Whatever." She draws another card. "Just the howl of an angry dog, nothing more. I set one card, and now I summon Fire Trooper, and I sacrifice him to deal 1000 points of damage to you." There's a brief moment where I can see her monster, but it quickly explodes, and as the fire washes over me, I can feel the chains contracting even further. "Moltan Zombie, slay his Little-Winguard." He does so with hardly any effort, and with those 500 points of damage, Shizuka and I are halfway to the fire. I'm so close I can't even hear Honda and Otogi anymore over the fire. "You better pull yourself together Jounouchi. You wouldn't want to see your sister's pretty face all charbroiled, would you? End turn." Damn it, she was wrong, what she said didn't make sense. I say those words, but somehow they're not as reassuring as they should be.

"Brother, please don't be scared for me." Shizuka? "It doesn't matter what she says or what she does, I know the truth about you. When I look at you, I see the light that brought me out of the darkness, and I won't see you fall back into it." I wipe the sweat away from my eyes.

"Thanks Shizuka. You really saved my bacon just now. Don't worry; the brother you see isn't going anywhere." I draw my next card, Shield & Sword. Bingo. Prometheus, you're going down. "I set two cards." Take One Chance and Shield & Sword. "and now I summon the Rocket Warrior. End Turn." Like my previous monsters, a chain appears, connecting it to Shizuka, and drops it's attack power down to 1100. Prometheus seems unafraid of me as she draws her next card.

"I set one card, and now I activate Sixth Sense." A giant die appears in front of me. "I now predict that you will roll a five or six. That's how many cards I'm going to draw. Get to it, boy." Snarling, I toss the die as hard as I can, and as luck would have it, I rolled a four, forcing her to discard four cards. If that got to her, she didn't show it.

"Such a fool. Do you really think sending cards to my graveyard is going to help you? I now remove Fire Trooper from the grave in order to special summon Inferno." A pile of skulls appears in front of her before bursting into flames. The fire grins at me, the skulls untouched by the intense heat. "When Inferno destroys an enemy monster, you take fifteen hundred points of damage, and look; your Rocket Warrior is just weak enough for a tie. Inferno, destroy his Rocket Warrior. Skull Blaze!" The fire rushes for my monster, just like I hoped it would.

"Activate trap card, Magical Arm Shield." A machine grabs her Molten Zombie and drags it over to my side of the field in front of the Inferno, and even though its attack drops to 1600, it's still strong enough to take out Inferno, and now that the battle is over, Molten Zombie returns to her side of the field. Despite herself, Prometheus is tugged from her place as her chain contracts, though her brother doesn't make a sound as he's dragged along. Prometheus takes a quick glance at him before facing me.

"So you can fight back. That's good to know. End turn." There was a definite caustic bitterness to those words. It has to do with her brother, I'm sure of it. Before this is over, I have to find out who she is, or this duel would be completely meaningless. I draw my next card.

"I now summon the Goblin Attack Force." A team of goblins appear, the chain splitting at their end before becoming one at Shizuka's end. "Funny thing; thanks to your Final Attack Orders, my monster can't go back to defense mode, making using him much easier to use. Rocket Warrior, weaken Molten Zombie so that Goblin Attack Force can finish him off. Rocket-Goblin Combo!" Rocket Warrior flies in low, punching a hole through Molten Zombie, giving Goblin Attack Force the opening it needed to take him down. In the end I did another 400 points of damage, bringing the two of them closer to the fire, and to each other. "End Turn." For a moment her eyes grow wide, but then Prometheus just spits at her brother. What the hell was that about?

"Brother, did you see what she just did?"

"Yeah, she just spat on her brother." Shizuka shook her head.

"No, it was only for a moment, but an ember landed on his face, and she put it out." This was getting weird. She stole his soul, yet she didn't want his face getting burned?

"Pay attention to the battle, Jounouchi! I play the card I just drew, Swords of Revealing Light." As the swords surround me and Shizuka, I have to shield my eyes from all the light.

"I thought so. Brother, there's something weird about her face. It's like it's not real." I take a look through the glaring light, and Shizuka is right. There are these lines all along the edges of her face, like it's a…

"Prometheus, is that a mask?" She hardly seems to react to that.

"For such a notorious idiot, you can be perceptive when you feel like it. Well, this one has served its purpose for today, and it won't survive exposure to all this heat. So sure, I'll let you see my real face." With one hand she reaches for her left ear, and with the other she grabs the back of her head, and then she pulls her mask and hair away. I have to suppress the urge to vomit, and I'm sure that if Shizuka didn't want to appear afraid, she'd be looking away. Prometheus's face was completely covered in burn scars, even spreading to where her hair should be. "Well now, not so eager to see the truth now, are you? For a time, my brother and I depended on each other, since our parents were dead. Unfortunately, there was an accident, and our apartment caught on fire. Does my brother do the right thing, and get me out of there? NO! He runs and calls the fire department, anything to keep from risking his pretty face to save me." Shizuka speaks up.

"No, I'm sure that wasn't what happened. Your brother-"

"Don't project your little fairy tale bond where it doesn't belong. Sure, he was willing to spend every yen, take any opportunity to fix my face, but it was a little late for that, don't you think, _pretty girl_? In time I was able to gain employment at Kaiba Corp, monitoring the duels of Battle City from deep within the bowels of the corporate headquarters. It was a job that didn't require anyone to see my face, so I didn't have to cover up beyond what was medically necessary." Then she smiled at her brother, an expression that combined loathing and gratitude in an uneasy mix.

"Shortly after that, my brother told me that he found someone who was sympathetic to _our_ plight, a wealthy woman named Dopol. We learned some very interesting things from her, about the Millennium Items and the Shadow Games. She said that if we were willing to gather souls for her, then she could heal my face, permanently, like the fire had never happened. That was when I decided to make proper use of my brother, and make sure that he would do the right thing." Prometheus shuddered at the memory. "Dopol was impressed by my forethought, and gave me my codename 'Prometheus'. After several month of tracking down the strongest duelists in Africa, Dopol contacted me, telling me that she had a target in mind for me. How pleased I was to learn that it was you that she'd chosen for me, a boy who had all the appearance of being the noble, protective older brother that all little girls should yearn for. But now the truth is exposed, and your lies are coming to an end. By the way, it's your turn now."

She was right, it was my turn. I took another look at Prometheus's brother, and I tried imagining doing the things he did, abandoning Shizuka in her time of need. I almost vomited again, the lurching in my stomach even stronger then when Prometheus took off her mask. His suit was covered in cuts and scrapes, his face was smothered with dirt and his hair was matted and filthy. Most of all, his soul was really gone, I was close enough now to see the signs from when Mai was trapped in that Penalty Game of Malik's. I clear my head long enough to draw my card, Scapegoat. I can't get the most out of it right now, so I'll wait on it. "End turn." I tried to keep my voice even, but I was never good at that, not like Kaiba or the other Yuugi. Now she draws her next card, and she grins, an unearthly looking expression on _her_ face.

"You're going to lose, Jounouchi. I activate Eternal Mausoleum!" At once the warehouse around us disappears, and while we can't see the bonfire anymore, we can still feel the heat. Shizuka inches over closer to me, away from the edge of the bridge. "And now I summon Molten Zombie back from the grave, and with his special ability, I get to draw a card. And look, its Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective. I summon him to the field and sacrifice Molten Zombie to it, increasing his attack to three thousand. I think I'll send him after your rocket warrior. Explosive Soul Burst!" What looks like a giant ball of gas with one eyeball appears, and as Molten Zombie disappears, it expands and rushes for Rocket Warrior. Fortunately for me, I have just the right card prepared.

"I activate Shield & Sword." At once Gaia Soul shrinks to almost nothing as its attack drops to 0, while Rocket Warrior still retains 900 attack points. His attack is just a minor, yet devastating prick, and Prometheus's chains contract further, now almost as much as mine have.

"You sure like dragging things out, don't you? End turn." I draw my next card, trying to keep my mind off of what I'd learned about my opponent and the stakes of this duel. Shizuka whispers to me, making sure Prometheus won't hear us over the fire.

"Isn't that your best card, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon?" I sigh.

"Yeah, but thanks to Burden of the Mighty, there's no point in summoning him; he'll end up being weakened more then my other monsters." I look at my prize card. "Sorry buddy, it looks like you're going to have to sit this one out." And now to Prometheus, "End turn." She draws her card, this time with a scowl on her face. At least, I think it's a scowl.

"I special summon Molten Zombie, allowing me to draw another card." Her expression hasn't changed, so if she was scowling before, she was still doing it now. "Molten Zombie, kill his Rocket Warrior." I have one last trap left, and this one's a gamble.

"I activate Take One Chance, to activate one random card in my graveyard." Come on, be something useful. The card that comes out is… Graceful Dice, another gamble on top of a gamble; I roll the die, and unfortunately it seems my luck has run out, as I roll a one. With only 100 extra attack points, Rocket Warrior is still killed, and the chains contract 400 points closer to dragging us into the fire.

"Hmm, your one chance wasn't very impressive, was it? Seems you couldn't do any better then that pitiful specimen over there. End turn." She spits the last words out, and this time I see her put out the ember that had just landed on her brother's face. I'm beginning to wonder if even she notices it. I draw my next card, Hayabusa Knight.

"That one looks real pretty Jounouchi. Does she have any special abilities?" How did Shizuka decide that the monster was a she? I guess that's something only another girl would understand.

"Actually yeah. Hayabusa Knight can attack twice in one round, so if I can figure out a way to increase hi… her power, then she can be really devastating." I review my hand, and while I can't make Hayabusa Knight stronger right now, I can buy myself a turn or two until then. "I play Scapegoat." Now that I have four empty monster slots, I can use this card to its best effect. "End turn." Prometheus draws her next card, and now she's grinning again. I wish she wouldn't do that.

"First, I special summon Flame Ruler, who you so conveniently sent to my grave when I played Sixth Sense. And since he acts as two tributes for the summoning of a fire monster, I sacrifice him in order to summon Infernal Flame Emperor." A towering leonine winged figure of fire appears in front of her, possessing an attack power of 2700, but there's something weird about it, something's different from the card. "Well this is a surprise. I'm glad that you've decided to be helpful, brother. Now be a dear and remove Flame Ruler from the Graveyard so that you can get rid of his scapegoats and win the game." I can see it now; the monster has the same black hair as her brother. Now I wait for my card to burst into flames, but nothing happens. The Infernal Flame Emperor is just standing there, though I think that if I try, I can see sadness in his eyes. "I see, you want to see your sister fail, even now; so much for your professed grief and regret over what you did to me. Too bad though, you still have to attack Goblin Attack Force, along side Molten Zombie. Magma Hell Fire!"

Infernal Flame Emperor kills the Goblins with a crushing blow, while Molten Zombie melts one of the Scapegoats. Now Shizuka and I are only 800 life points away from the fire, and I can almost feel it touching my skin. "Maybe next turn I'll draw my other strongest monster, and then we can finish this duel. End turn." I look down at my deck. There's just one card that I can use to make this hand of mine work, but I don't know if I can draw it. I look at that towering figure of fire, and silently ask him if his sister was right, whether we brothers really were no good in the end? Now I feel a cool warmth around me, and I recognize that it's Shizuka.

"Katsuya, Prometheus is wrong. Her brother is trying to help her, I can see it. He knows he can't heal her face, but he's trying to heal her soul. We have to take this opportunity he's given us and show her the strength of our bond, so that she can believe in her brother again." I look at my sister's eyes. It seems like ever since the operation, she's been taking everything in through them, seeing everything about everything. Her conviction pouring through me, I draw my card, and I smile when I see it.

"First, I summon Hayabusa Knight." The bird warrior appears, her chain a little lighter then those of my previous monsters, and her eyes are hazel, just like Shizuka's. "And now I play United We Stand." Glowing strands of power connect the scapegoats to Hayabusa Knight, raising her attack power from 700 to 3900.

"How did you, how could you have a monster that powerful?" I want to look down, not wanting to watch the unpleasant task before me, but Shizuka keeps her head up, and so do I.

"I want you two to pay attention, and never forget the strength of this bond. You're going to need it in order to put your lives back together, and if you need help, you can call on us any time." I fall into the duelist position, and all I see now is the enemy monster I need to defeat. "Falcon Strike!" Quicker then I can see, Hayabusa Knight slays Molten Zombie, doing more then enough damage to finish the game. The Mausoleum and all the other monsters fade instantly, except for Infernal Flame Emperor, who lingers momentarily. That's when our chains vanished, and theirs started to drag them into the fire.

"Don't worry you two, we got them!" Honda and Otogi are already at the other end, trying to pull Prometheus and her brother away from the fire. The chains are really strong, and although the brother's hair catches fire, the chains vanish before they can be dragged in entirely. Honda ends up stomping the fire out, leaving the brother's hair in even worse shape then before. I go over to where the Millennium Item is and put it in my backpack. With that taken care of, I look at Prometheus and her brother; for all that she professed to hate him, she'd launched herself at him just before losing her soul, like she was trying to keep him from being pulled in.

"Yeah, that's right, warehouse 8 in downtown Domino. There are two people who are going to need medical attention over the next few days. Thank you for your help Doctor Minaka." Otogi clicked his cell phone off and looked at us.

"He's my family doctor. We can trust him to keep confidence. Now let's get these two into a more comfortable position before the paramedics arrive." If this were another time I'd ask him why his family had his own doctor, but there are more important matters to attend to. Try as we might we can't get Prometheus to let go of her brother, so we leave them sitting up against some tires before leaving.

"I'm real sorry about all this Shizuka. I promise I'll be more vigilant in the future, okay?" For all my heartfelt trouble, Shizuka jabs me in the shoulder. I must be rubbing off on her, unfortunately.

"You're already bad enough about watching over me like a hawk, there's no need to go overboard. Besides, sometimes things happen that none of us can control, like the problems with my vision, or that fire that Prometheus was in. We just need to keep our eyes on the light, that's all we can do." We make our way back to Yuugi's house. He'll want to know what happened to us, and we'll be ready to tell him.

* * *

It's a shame, but it now appears that Prometheus has lost too. Oh well, she did well enough in Africa, and now her item, alongside Yamada's and Dual's, have enough souls for their part. It should only be a day or two before the items are brought back to me, whether willingly or otherwise, and then I will play the final Shadow Game to complete the ritual. I look out the window at the ocean, smiling at the thought of all the power that is about to be mine. For three hundred years my family has sought this power, and now I will inherit it at long last, and I will make good use of it. 


	4. Chapter 4

Real Pride, Real Dreams

"Mokuba, are you ready?" My brother looks at me from the other end of my desk.

"See for yourself, Big Brother." He puts his hands out, his fingers stretched out as far as possible. Even with my scrutiny, I can't see the gloves that he's wearing.

"Excellent Mokuba. Now remember, regardless of what happens, keep your focus on completing your task. When you're done, and no sooner, signal me like we've discussed, and if I don't respond right away, don't hesitate to go to Yuugi and his friends." Mokuba nods, and takes his seat in the vice presidents chair, and we wait for our guest to arrive. According to the most recent satellite scans, Eternal Mausoleum had been played for the third time today, but more interestingly, the most recent shadow duelist attempted to use the special ability of Infernal Flame Emperor to remove scapegoat from the field, a move that would have won them the game; only for some reason it didn't work. I'm going to have to pay attention to this match, to make sure that my cards do what they are supposed to do.

"Mr. Kaiba, your guest is just outside your office and wishes to enter." I respond over the intercom.

"Thank you Isono. Let him in." The doors to my office are the only remnants of when Gozaburo controlled the Kaiba Corporation. Huge and ostentatious, they dwarfed anyone who entered, making them seem that much smaller in the eyes of the president, except for this man. In fact, if the doors hadn't been so large, he would have had to stoop down quite low to make his way in. He was nearly two and a half meters tall, and a quick evaluation of his gait was enough to discern the presence of braces on his legs, and the way his left arm hanged loosely at his side suggested that he normally had a cane in addition to those measures. Once he reached my desk, he put the briefcase that he'd been carrying in his right hand down on it.

"I'm glad to see that you could make time for me, Seto Kaiba." I keep my face neutral, an easy task, and make only the slightest motion towards Mokuba, but it's enough for him to pick up on. He rises from his chair and rushes over to our "guest".

"Hello sir, I'm Mokuba Kaiba, Vice-President of the Kaiba Corporation. Its standard procedure that I evaluate our guests before Big Brother speaks with them, so please cooperate, or else this will all be for nothing. Now shake my hand and state your name." Mokuba uses just the right mix of childishness and business acumen to disarm our guest of whatever suspicion he might have possessed, and he lowers himself enough for Mokuba to take a hold of his hand.

"My name is Ryong. Is that satisfactory, or is there more?" Ryong? Clearly whoever sent this man has a strong sense for the dramatic. Mokuba managed a few solid shakes before letting go.

"Okay, you can talk to Big Brother. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be going now." Mokuba leaves through the double doors, and Isono closes them behind him. I take a brief glance at the monitor on my desk, and just as we'd planned, Mokuba was heading to the forensics lab to analyze Ryong's DNA, which combined with Kaiba Corp's database, would allow us to discern not only his real identity, but also his movements as far back as we need to look. Of course, not everything can be found on a database, which brings me to my end of the plan.

"Ryong, I'm a busy man whose time is more valuable then you can imagine, so I'd advise you to get to the point. You suggested in our correspondences that you had a card of great value that you'd be willing to offer up for a trade. Do you?" Ryong smiled, and I was just a bit disappointed to see that he didn't have any fangs at all; his teeth were normally proportioned to his face.

"Of course, but as we both know, it is insufficient to merely see the text for a card's effect in order to assess its power. If you would like the card, then you will have to face me in a duel. If you can defeat it, then you may claim ownership of it." I smile almost imperceptibly. He must think he's catching me off guard, that I'm really interested in his card. Still, there's no sense in showing my hand too early, so I'll continue to play the fool as I draw him further into my trap.

"Well, I hadn't planned on dueling again until Yuugi Mutou was up to the task of facing me once more." Ryong tries to conceal his emotions, but I see the glint in his eyes as I mentioned Yuugi. His associates were making there moves against him, that's what his eyes told me. "But, I think that I can fit you in before that. I wouldn't want to fall out of practice before my match Yuugi, would I? This office is too cramped for a duel though. Isono?"

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Please escort Ryong to the roof while I get ready for our duel." Ryong takes his briefcase, and while I hope to hear the clang of something metallic jangling inside it, it would seem that everything in there is tightly bound. It doesn't matter though, I'm certain that that's where he's keeping whatever it is that he's using for his Shadow Games, along with his Duel Disc. As he leaves, Isono closes the door behind him, and I observe them on the monitor. As they make there way to the roof, Ryong attempts to initiate conversation with Isono, possibly to gather any last minute information he can on me, but Isono is following my instructions, and not giving him anything to work with, not even lies. I become worried for a moment when Ryong stops to look at a Kaiba Land poster, but he resumes his trip to the roof shortly thereafter.

I take my deck from out of my desk and review it, my eyes lingering on the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, the only ones in the world. Regardless of whatever other cards might be created, these will always be the center of my power. I'm almost finished when I see one card that brings back a truly striking memory; Gift Card, a trap that gives your opponent 3000 life points. Were it to have come from anyone else, I would have considered it a joke in bad taste, but this card was from Mokuba, and he didn't have to say anything for his message to get through. This was a challenge to me, to find a way to take an act of kindness like this, and turn it into victory. I keep this in mind as I prepare my Duel Disc, knowing that Ryong will undoubtedly attempt to use my darkness against me, a foolish endeavor. A foolish effort, since the cornerstone of my heart is bright enough to dispel any darkness.

* * *

I come down the stairs, having finally gotten a hold of Isis. I'd forgotten that Domino was seven hours ahead of Cairo, and it seemed that Isis liked to sleep in late. Still, once I convinced her bureaucrats of the importance of what I had to talk to Isis about, they patched me through, and I finally got to ask all the questions that had been rushing through my mind ever since my duel with Jiro Yamada. I was ready to tell everyone what I'd learned, but when I got to the bottom of the stairs, Anzu was the only one there. From the way she's seated, she's been waiting there for a while and now she's looking right at me. "Anzu, where did everyone go?"

"Jounouchi, Honda, and Otogi went to the store to get some food, Mai got a call from that doctor, saying that he had some information on that 'Roulette' guy that she's been looking for, and Grandpa Mutou is in the kitchen, fixing some food for us."

"Okay." I take a seat against the wall opposite to her. It's strange, but when it's just the two of us, I feel like I need an excuse to get close to her now. If the others had been here, I would have just walked right up to her, because she would have just been another friend, and it wouldn't have felt strange to want to be next to her. We're quiet for awhile; the only sounds we can hear are Grandpa banging pots as he tries to find what he's looking for. I drop my head down, unsure of how to meet Anzu's gaze, when she breaks the silence between us.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Yuugi? Since it was just the two of us?" I raise my head back up, and she's still looking at me. "Do you ever wonder what would have happened, if you hadn't solved the puzzle?" Truth be told, I couldn't imagine a world like that, a world where I'd never gotten to meet Atem. I think she can see it in my eyes, because she begins backpedaling furiously. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid question. Forget I asked. I just… I'd thought the Shadow Games were over and done with, and that, well…" It's hard for her to say. I know, because it's hard for me to say too, but it was the first thing that I asked Isis about, and actually, it's okay that the others aren't around right now, since this was something for Anzu to hear, and no one else. I get up and walk over to her, and now I sit beside her.

"Anzu, he's still on the other side of the door. Isis assured me that no matter what, these new Millennium Items don't have the power to drag him away from where he belongs. We said our goodbyes, and they still stand." I hesitate a little, but I need to say this next part. "I promise you Anzu, I'll never let you go through anything like that ever again." I take her hand, and I squeeze it as I make my promise, and I let go again. I can see a change in her eyes, like I managed to say something right.

"Yuugi, don't worry about me. This has to be much harder on you then it could ever be for me. I just wish that I could help you, somehow." We're silent again, but it's a different silence from before. I feel like we're saying something in this quiet, when I hear Grandpa calling out from the kitchen.

"Anzu! Could you let Yuugi know that dinner is ready?" She smiles at me.

"Come on Yuugi. There's no sense in being all mopey on an empty stomach, is there?" We laugh a little as we come into the kitchen, and now we find ourselves drawing on happier memories, happier times as we chat with Grandpa, not dwelling on the Shadow Games, which I suppose is the best way to fight them. I just hope I can win, for his sake, and hers.

* * *

The wind seems to respond to the imminent battle between us, and while normally I'd regard that as little more then inane superstition, it wouldn't surprise me if Ryong were behind it.

"So, are you ready, Seto Kaiba? I warn you, once this game begins, you can't walk away from it."

"I never walk away from anything, Ryong. In fact, I'll let you go first." The wind picks up, and I can feel it becoming cooler as he reaches into his coat pocket, and he pulls out an object. It's golden, like the real Millennium Items, but looks more like a piece of slag that an incompetent goldsmith would have tossed aside in disgust, except for the familiar Eye of Wadjet, which stood out with it's mocking sense of perfection in the middle of the crass failure of that object, and while it should be asinine to say, I could see the shadows flowing from it, surrounding the both of us.

"You'll regret that decision." As he draws his hand, I feel the ground shaking beneath me, and in moments it appears that we're each standing on top of a tower, signaling that the Shadow Game has begun. "I think I'll start by summoning the Blizzard Dragon, and I'll set one card. End Turn." Blizzard Dragon not only has an attack of 1800, but once per turn can prevent a monster from attacking or changing battle position; an annoying creature to be certain, but hardly insurmountable. I draw my card and review my hand: Vorse Raider, X-Head Cannon, Megamorph, Giant Germ, Spell Absorption, and Shadow Spell.

"First I summon X-Head Cannon, and I set two cards, and end my turn." Spell Aborption and Shadow Spell. He's going to attempt to power up his Blizzard Dragon, and I'm ready for him. He draws his next card, and he grins.

"First, I set one monster, and now I play Dragon Gunfire to inflict 800 points of direct damage to you." Perfect. Now all I have to do is to activate my card and- "But the moment I play that card, I activate my trap card, Fusion Guard." What? Just as his dragon's fireball is about to impact me, it's suddenly blocked by a gigantic form which destroys it before I can activate Spell Absorption. I look at it, and now I recognize the monster before me. He went through all that trouble, just to send Five-Headed Dragon to the graveyard? Clearly he has a plan behind this, and I'll have to keep my eyes out for it. "My turn isn't over yet, Seto Kaiba. Now I play Dragon Treasure." There we go.

"That activates my spell card, Spell Absorption. Your monster might gain 300 attack points, but I gain 500 life points, and I will continue to do so, for so long as either of us activates a spell card." That seemed to push his buttons.

"You think you're so damn clever, don't you? Blizzard Dragon, kill his X-Head Cannon. Frozen Breath!" Blizzard Dragon reared up off its arms, about to attack.

"I activate Shadow Spell, stopping your attack, and dropping Blizzard Dragon to 1400 attack points." Black Chains wrapped themselves around Blizzard Dragon, sealing his mouth shut. Ryong glares back at me.

"Blizzard Dragon, freeze his X-Head Cannon." Ice lances from his dragon's wings, encasing my monster. "End Turn." I just draw my card, letting him stew in his own juices. Different Dimension Dragon, a useful wall monster.

"I now summon Vorse Raider to attack your Blizzard Dragon." Vorse Raider lops off Blizzard Dragon's head off, dealing 500 points of damage to him. As the damage registers, chunks of the tower fall apart. "Well, I was curious as to how this Shadow Game was going to play out. So the loser has the ground fall out beneath them, hmm? Clearly you have a lot of pride to choose this for our game, but as you can see, you're going to lose. End turn." Ryong stares at me.

"So you knew who I was the whole time, and you let me walk up to you and challenge you anyway? Why?"

"Actually, all I knew before was that you were a member of some shadowy organization that was defiling the dueling world with this occult nonsense. I allowed you to come to me so that I could put a stop to it, personally. And once Mokuba finishes scanning the DNA he obtained from you earlier, I'll be able to track down your boss and take care of him too." Ryong was definitely taken off guard by that one.

"In other words, after I defeat you, I'm going to have to deal with your little brother. Not a problem." He draws his next card. "I set one card, and end my turn." He's got a trap for me, but is it his monster, or his card? I draw my next card, Cost Down.

"Now I summon the Giant Germ, and it will attack your face down monster." The germ envelops his monster, which turns out to be the Exploder Dragon. The dragon's bomb lights up before exploding, and when it does, both monsters are gone, and Ryong takes another 500 points of damage, tearing his tower down another notch. "And while I'm at it, I'll special summon two Giant Germs from my deck. Second Giant Germ, attack." Now to see what his face down card will do. It clearly wasn't Mirror force or Negate Attack, or else he would have activated it earlier.

"I activate my trap card, A Rival Appears!" So that's what it was. In accordance with his card, he now special summons one monster from his hand equal in level to one of my monsters. "And I choose as my monster, Rare Metal Dragon." A squat dragon coated in steel appears, with an attack of 2400. A clever way to get him on the field, seeing as he can't be normal summoned. Ryong, you may yet have promise.

"Well then, I'll just set X-Head Cannon and Vorse Raider in defense mode, and end my turn." Ryong draws his next card.

"You know, I was kind of expecting you to have some questions for me. Things like where I got this item, and why I'm willing to risk my soul in order to defeat you. That sort of thing, understand?"

"What do I care for your past? The only thing that has ever concerned me is my future, and I won't allow someone to corrupt that future by digging up three thousand year old superstitions and dragging them into my games." He smirks.

"Ah, but this isn't three thousand years old." He turns the item over in his hand. "No, I'd say that it's about… eight months old." Eight Months? That would mean it was created some time between the end of Duelist Kingdom and the beginning of Battle City. But as I suspected, there was no need for me to overtly ask him anything. "So you can see that your problem is quite baseless, Seto Kaiba. But enough of that for now; I set one monster, and attack one of your Giant Germs with Rare Metal Dragon." His dragon slashes through my germ, and even though I take 1400 points of damage, that still leaves me ahead of him, since he takes another 500 points of damage. The towers begin to creak, but I am unmoved. "End turn." I draw my next card.

"You're about to see what happens when you keep focus on the future. I play Future Fusion, and send my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons to the grave. In two turns, the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon will be summoned to the field." More immediately, spell absorption activates again, giving me another 500 life points. My tower is already putting itself back together. "Now in the meantime, I do have a question for you. What do you plan to do with my soul after you've won? Not that that's going to happen of course, my interest is strictly academic." He looks at me in an almost contemplative manner.

"If I can get your soul, Dopol will grant me considerable power, and in order to fulfill one's dreams, you need power. You know this; that was why you made your devil's deal with Gozaburo, so why shouldn't I make my own devil's bargain?" So he's trying to build a future of his own. A shame that he's decided to try to tear down mine, since I won't let that happen, no matter what.

"I set my remaining Giant Germ in defense mode, and I'll attack your facedown monster with Vorse Raider." Vorse Raider cuts his card in half, leaving Troop Dragon a broken wreck. Unfortunately, that also means he can special summon another troop dragon from his deck, so my situation hasn't improved. Oh well. "End turn." He draws his next card.

"You should have gone on the offensive and killed my two other Troop Dragons. As it stands, I'm one step closer to victory. I sacrifice Rare Metal Dragon and Troop Dragon in order to summon Felgrand Dragon!" A towering golden dragon, its scales shining with their own light, appears in front of him. For all the theatrics behind the summoning, it only has 2800 attack points, which is nothing I can't handle. "Felgrand Dragon, attack Vorse Raider with Thousand Light!" Felgrand's whole being became suffused with light, light that he focused through his mouth, destroying Vorse Raider for 900 points of damage. As my life points drop down to 2700, our towers are now almost equal. "And to finish my turn, I play Super Rejuvenation, allowing me to draw one card for each dragon I sent to the grave." As he draws two cards, I also gain another 500 life points. "Now end turn." I draw my card, Paladin of White Dragon. Unnecessary at this time, but no sense in not holding onto it.

"I play cost down, and set one monster." Another 500 life points, and my tower is almost as good as new. "End turn." He draws his next card with an expression resembling childlike glee.

"Felgrand Dragon might seem powerful now, but it's only after the light has passed through the darkness that it can shine brightest of all. First I activate Stamping Destruction to destroy Spell Absorption and deal five hundred points of damage to you." Felgrand crushes my card.

"Why didn't you target Future Fusion?"

"Because I want to show you that even at the peak of your power, you can't win against me. Now that Spell Absorption is gone, I activate Pot of Greed, and it looks like the future going to be very bright for me indeed. I play Foolish Burial to send Tyrant Dragon to the grave. Now, I play Eternal Mausoleum." A deep darkness envelops us both, and when it passes, we're in some manner of tomb, with what appear to symbols reminiscent of Duel Monsters carved into the bridge between us.

"It would figure that your boss, Dopol, would have an inordinate fascination with Ancient Egypt. If you were to have played this against Yuugi or one of his friends, I'm certain that they'd be terrified right about now. But I'm not them."

"But you should be scared, Seto Kaiba, for this place has a considerable power. I'll demonstrate; I now tribute Felgrand Dragon to special summon from the grave Tyrant Dragon." Felgrands light dims as he falls into the darkness, while the Tyrant Dragon flies up. It settles onto the field with a 2900 attack power, and if there are two monsters on the field, he can attack twice. "Tyrant Dragon, attack his X-Head Cannon and his face-down monster." Both of my monsters are destroyed by Tyrant Dragon's fire, leaving me with only Giant Germ to defend myself, for now. "To finish my turn, I set one card. End turn." As I draw my card, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon appears on the field. I look at Ryong, his face shining with confidence. Clearly his facedown card will keep me from finishing him off this turn, but how exactly will it do it? I look at the card I just drew, and I start laughing uproariously.

"The hell is so damn funny Seto Kaiba?"

"Oh, it's nothing you would understand. This card just stirs up strong memories; that's all. In fact, I'm going to set it, along with one other card." Megamorph and Gift Card. "Now, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack his Tyrant Dragon. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Burst!" Tyrant Dragon is annihilated by my dragons three pronged attack; leaving Ryong with exactly 900 life points, well within reach of my Giant Germ. Now to see what that facedown card is. "Giant Germ, direct attack on Ryong." As the germ rushes towards him, Ryong grins.

"Activate spell card, Transformation!" A bright flash of light surrounds him, destroying Giant Germ as it surrounded him. As the light fades, I can see that Ryong is now wearing some manner of armor, reminiscent of the Felgrand Dragon, except that where the Felgrand was golden, his armor was onyx. "Any card that attempts to directly damage me will be negated and destroyed. Mind you, if you do destroy the armor, I'll take that damage that was prevented, but you won't have that chance, Seto Kaiba."

"I suppose the irony of your situation escapes you entirely, doesn't it? Diving into the darkness, encasing yourself in it, all to make your brilliant dreams come true; no dream is worth that. Trust me on that. End Turn." Although I can't see his face behind the armor, I'm certain that he is scorning me.

"So you say, yet here you are, president of the Kaiba Corporation. I'd say that diving headfirst into the darkness worked out pretty well for you. And it will work out even better for me." He draws his card. "Very well indeed. First, I use Eternal Mausoleum to special summon Felgrand Dragon from the grave, and activate his special ability. He will channel the power of one of the monsters in my graveyard, gaining two hundred attack points for each level of that monster. I choose Five-Headed Dragon for that monster." So that was why he used Dragon Gunfire and Fusion Guard. Felgrand Dragon is now a veritable beacon of power, eclipsing my own Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with an attack power of 5200. "And just in case you think that that's the limit of his power, think again. I play Megamorph, doubling his power." Felgrand Dragon grows to tower over Ryong, who is now a miniature shadow by comparison, the light from his dragon unable to pierce the aura of his armor. "How do you like it, Seto Kaiba? An attack power of ten-thousand four-hundred, more then twice that of your dragon, and even if by some miracle you destroy it, you still can't touch me. My future is a given now."

Just then, I felt a pinch in my left ear, so I tapped it, triggering the communication device therein.

"So Mokuba, what can you tell me about Ryong?" Mokuba's voice rings clearly in my ear.

"I'm still working on uncovering everything, but his real name is Jun Meada, age 38, and it turns out that he used to be at the same orphanage we were at, but of course he'd been adopted long before either of us ever got there. I'll let you know as soon as I learn more."

"Thank you Mokuba." I turned to 'Ryong', my expression instantly souring. "So, Jun Maeda, you can see that you're far too late to deal with my brother. The information will get out well before you can reach Dopol. I doubt that your master will be willing to grant you any power after that, even if you do win, which you won't." Jun chuckles, a hollow sound that echoes from within his helmet.

"You are a fool indeed if you think that any force that you can muster will be more then a nuisance to Dopol. I assure you, she is quite untouchable, and she will be even more so once she finishes the final Shadow Game. But that's enough of that. Felgrand Dragon, attack Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Ten Thousand Lights!" Well, this was actually pretty fun, but I'm going to have to bring it to a close.

"First, I activate Megamorph." My Blue-Eyes shrinks down in half as her attack drops to 2250.

"Have you gone mad? Megamorph will weaken you if you have more life points then your opponent, something you practically guaranteed with that Spell Absorption card."

"Yes, but remember that you have nine hundred life points, while I only possess thirty-two hundred life points. Keep that in mind as I play my trap, Gift Card." Curiously enough, a phantom of my brother appeared, floating over to Jun and handing him a card emblazoned with the Winged Kuriboh, granting him 3000 life points. Now his tower was almost back to normal, save for a small gash at his feet. As my brother vanished, Blue-Eyes grew to dizzying heights, while Felgrand shrank down to Jun Maeda's size.

"You… you play _what_? That's a joke card; you're not supposed to use it in a serious duel."

"Ah but I have, and as you can see, I've won, but you may consider this my other gift to you; I will delay my victory if you can provide me with useful information, information that wouldn't be found in any of your records. What is Dopol trying to accomplish?" Jun sighed in resignation.

"I don't know, and I don't really care. My plan was to go to Germany, and create a new life for myself. With the money that Dopol would provide for me, I'd be able to establish an orphanage of my own, one that would do a proper job of helping children like us, and I wouldn't try and make people forget their troubles with ridiculous theme parks."

"So that's what your problem with me is then? Well, that's a little different. Usually people are accusing me of murder and blackmail. When this is all over and done with, I think I'll enjoy having a battle of wits with you, but right now you're unarmed, and would be no more entertaining then that mediocre duelist friend of Yuugi's. So until then; Blue-Eyes Unlimated Burst Breath!" As Felgrand Dragon disintegrates, Jun's armor falls away in pieces, until only the helmet is left, which just fades away into nothing. His tower collapses beneath him, and as the darkness fades away, I can see him slumped over on the ground, his 'Millennium Item' just out of reach of his outstretched hands. I pick it up and put it in my coat pocket, not wanting to hold that piece of trash for any longer then is absolutely necessary.

I contact Mokuba again. "Mokuba, make sure that Jun is safely confined in our hospital facilities."

"Right away Big Brother. By the way, I've just gotten a hold of something very interesting, and I think you'll want to see it for yourself."

"I'll be right there Mokuba." As I make my way down to Forensics, I pass by a team of medics rushing to the roof, and I stop to look at the poster for Kaiba Land. I resume walking, and now I'm back with Mokuba.

"Take a look at this, Big Brother. It's the flights he's been taking over the past year. See anything interesting?" Very. If that's where Dopol is residing, it would account for how she was able to print that card, Eternal Mausoleum.

"Mokuba, compile the information you've gathered. I'm going to prepare the helicopter, and this time there will be room for everyone, even that mediocre duelist."

* * *

Domino City is such a quaint little place; you'd never suspect that it was the home to some of the greatest gamers in the world. I take a look at my watch; 5:20. With what I told that silly doctor, that should give Mai Kujaku another 20 minutes to arrive, and then I can hand her the defeat I should have given her back in China. But no, Miss Dopol insisted that I lure her here first, and if that was the plan, then that's how it was going to go. I hear my cell phone ring and I answer it.

"Roulette, are you ready for Mai?"

"Of course I am, Paracelsus. The real question is whether you're ready to deal with Yuugi."

"Of course I am, and even if I weren't, Sakharov is ready to pick up the pieces."

"Well, so long as she's with you, I'm not worried at all."


	5. Chapter 5

Freedom on the Edge of the Cards

There he was; two solid months of tracking him down, and now he finally shows himself. The little bastard is acting like he doesn't even see me as he picks up his coffee. "Well imagine that, you actually waited for me; you don't look like the sort of man who'd actually keep his word to a woman." Roulette takes a sip from his coffee before putting it back down. He looks at me with a cold hunger in his eyes.

"Well, Miss Kujaku, you have to remember that you can be very difficult to find and even more difficult to approach, so it's only fair that I give you a treat of your own medicine. Tell me, how did it go down?" I take the seat opposite his and lean forward, bringing our eyes level with each other. I bring my arms in front of my chest, denying him _any_ pleasure in this encounter.

"Well enough I suppose, but I think we should get to why we're here. We had an appointment to keep back in China, only you weren't there. Because of that, my victory was tainted. I'm not going to let you walk away until I win our duel." He takes another sip of his coffee, and grins at me. If he weren't almost as short as Yuugi, he'd be mildly threatening, but he has nowhere near the kind of presence to pull that off.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on running. Just let me finish this coffee and I'll be ready to take us to a nice, private area so that no one interrupts us." I grin back at him. He does a good job of hiding it, but I can see the fear in his eyes.

"That sounds fair enough, except for one thing; your Millennium Item, or whatever it is you use for your Shadow Games. I don't want to steal your soul, as I've no use for such a thing, so leave it here. Otherwise I think I'll have to pass." Bingo. Whatever he says next, I know that I've definitely thrown him off his game, and we haven't even reached the first turn.

"So you knew, did you? That's not too surprising, considering that that idiot Yamada did expose himself pretty badly. Fortunately, I've another card up my sleeve." I roll my eyes at him. Does he think that because he calls himself Roulette, that he can get away with card puns? "Really, I do. See for yourself." He reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a business card and tosses it to me. I give it a look over, wondering what this little card could possibly change.

"So you own the China Doll casino. So what?" Roulette makes a quick smirk. Now that I look at him, I realize that he was never really thrown off, at least not as badly as he seemed. He's trying to play me too, a game within a game. If he weren't such a bastard, I'd find this much more enjoyable.

"Well, that's just the new name. Flip the card over, to see the old name." Old name? He couldn't possibly mean… Shit, he does.

"The Graceful Heron casino!" I see myself in his eyes, and I realize how badly I've blown my cover. I bring my face back under control, rushing to perform as much damage control as I can. "I severed my ties to that place long ago. You can't drag me back into that world, not even with the original seven Millennium Items." Unfortunately, I'm just a little too late, and the flow of the game is under his control again.

"I'm glad that you remember that place, but that's not what I meant when I said the old name. You see, in either incarnation, I've always been the owner of that casino, and back then, I didn't call myself Roulette. As the card clearly shows, while Roulette owns the China Doll, the Graceful Heron was owned by Marcus Trent. So the real question becomes, do you remember me? Do you remember… this?" He pulls out a document, sealed in plastic, from his coat. Sitting across from him, this feels just like the first time we met, a memory I've long suppressed. I look at the document, and as I thought, it was the contract that I'd signed when I became his employee.

"In case you've forgotten, I don't work for you anymore. Whatever that contract says, it has no meaning to me."

"But that's where you're wrong. You see, the final clause of the contract doesn't come into effect until _after_ you've left me." Is something like that possible? "The final clause clearly states that if, after ceasing your employment under me, you achieve victory at a tournament by cheating, than you will be fined two hundred million yen, which is to be paid by resuming your former job. Now, what do you suppose would happen if I were to contact the Chinese officials, and inform them that you had threatened me into throwing our match?" Bastard!

"I see. Unless I face you in a Shadow Game, you're going to force me to come back to you. Sickening; I've met cockroaches with better character then you. Fine, you can have your item, but it won't change anything. Your petty illusions won't change the end result of our duel."

"Such harsh words, and after all the things I did for you, all the roads I smoothed over for you, all the times I reached out from the shadows to protect you. I'm not hurt though, because one way or another, you're going to come back to me, and you will appreciate me." I ignore his words as they fly past me. I've known men like him my whole life, pathetic creatures who really do, in the fetid depths of their souls, think that their stalker obsession is equivocal with love. Focus Mai Kujaku, focus!

"There's no sense in delaying this any further." I knock the rest of his coffee from his hand. "Hurry up and show me where you want us to duel." He smiles, because he knows that his threat worked. As horrible as Malik's Shadow Game was, that still couldn't compare to my old life, and I'm never going back. Never!

* * *

The four of us were rushing through the twisted alleyways of Domino when I saw my doctor's car rushing towards the warehouse where Prometheus and her brother were, reassuring me that they would be taken care of. After all, he'd been discrete throughout the years that my father had raised me, so I wasn't worried that anyone was going to discover what had happened. It's weird to think that some good would come out from my father's abuse, but that's how it is. He's not someone that I've thought about very much recently, but that's to be expected. After the disaster at the Black Crown game store, my father and I worked out our new living arrangement, and while I still see him occasionally, for the most part I've been on my own lately. Fortunately, Yuugi and his friends have kept that from being all that lonely, but if we don't hurry back, that could all come to an end.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" It's Bakura, but he's alone. What happened to his sister? Jounouchi stepped in front, and they looked each other in the eyes.

"We ran into one of the people who're trying to kill us. Where's Amane?" Bakura looked away for a moment, but he turns back to us with a smile on his face.

"It's a long story, but for right now, I'll just say that that girl wasn't my sister." Yeah, right now isn't a good time to go into details, but I can get a sense that something has changed in Bakura, like some shadow that's been hanging over him is gone. We all resume our path, and we're making good progress, until Jounouchi suddenly came to a stop. Honda grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Dude, what are you doing? We've got to get to Yuugi's." Jounouchi pushed Honda away.

"I think I just saw Mai with that Roulette guy."

"Are you serious?"

"You mean one of those people is after Miss Mai? We've got to get to her right away!" And without any hesitation whatsoever, Shizuka ran after them, leaving the rest of us with no choice but to follow. It didn't take us long to catch up with her, and something about her seemed spooked to see us. The man she was with, Roulette, looks at us before turning back to Mai.

"Humph, who'd have thought that your fans would track you down, even to here? Oh well, it's not like they can change anything, not at this point anyway." Jounouchi seemed livid.

"What do you mean I can't do anything? I'll kick your pasty white ass for even thinking that you can mess with Mai." Jounouchi was just about to put on his duel disc when Mai thrust her arm out in front of him.

"Jounouchi, that's awful sweet of you, but don't interfere in this. There's more riding on this duel then you can imagine, so just sit back and relax." Mai shifted into her dueling posture. "Although, I wouldn't mind a little cheerleading from my biggest fan, so you can do that, Jounouchi." I couldn't help myself. Once Mai mentioned cheerleading and Jounouchi in the same sentence, I imagined Jounouchi dressed up like Anzu, and it floored me. Jounouchi picked me up by my collar and started yelling at me.

"What the hell's the matter with you, Otogi? Mai's going to fighting with her soul on the line, and you think that's funny?" I wipe the tears from my eyes.

"I'm sorry, really. It's just, the thought of you cheerleading… well, let's not go down that road again." Jounouchi dropped me back down, and if I hadn't been so graceful, I'd have landed on my ass. Shizuka didn't seem to notice any of our petty bickering.

"Don't worry Miss Mai; we'll be with you all the way! Just go ahead and show that jerk what you're made of!" It looks like out of all of us, Shizuka still had her head in the game, so I promptly stamped out the hilarious mental images, and joined the others in giving Mai our support.

* * *

"Well, Miss Kujaku, looks like everything's all ready. I'll even be a gentleman, and let you go first." How quaint, he really is trying to act like he isn't scum. I'm not buying it, seeing as he chooses this time to bring out his Millennium Item. I can already feel the shadows flowing around us, just like when I dueled Malik.

"Whatever you say, Roulette." I draw my card, and look over my hand: Harpy Queen, Amazoness Paladin, Amazoness Blowpiper, Birdface, Cyber Shield, and Shadow of Eyes. This is a good start for me.

"Fist I discard Harpy Queen in order to draw Harpies' Hunting Ground, which I play now." The alleyway behind me rises up into a plateau, becoming the perfect place for my harpies to strike from. "Next, I summon Birdface, and set one card. End turn." With Eye of Shadow on the field, he won't be able to defend himself, and even if he kills Birdface, that'll just give me another Harpy Lady to work with. He draws his next card, and keeps his face impassive.

"A fair start, but not good enough my dear. First, I play Gravekeeper's Servant, forcing you to discard the top card of your deck every time you declare an attack. Next I set one card, and I summon the Chainsaw Insect." A gigantic ant appeared in front of Roulette, with a pair of chainsaw blades where his pincers should have been. While it has an attack power of 2400, using him in battle will let me draw a card after the damage is calculated. He must have a plan to take advantage of that, but no matter what it is, I'll be able to take care of it. "Chainsaw Insect, kill her Birdface. Revving Blade Slice!" The chainsaw blades began to spin, and when he brought them down on Birdface, it didn't even take a moment for him to be sliced in halve. As the damage registered, I could feel my legs stiffening up, but when I tried to move them, I couldn't. I looked down, and from my feet to my calves, it looked like my skin had turned into… you've got to be freaking kidding me.

"You sick freak. I knew you were a messed up bastard, but trying to turn me into a doll? That's low, even for you." Roulette seemed bemused with me as I draw my cards, Cyber Harpie Lady and Mist Body.

"Now now, watch your temper. I wouldn't want to see your pretty face freeze into a scowl; that would just ruin the display value. Oh, before you think I'm helping you with those two cards you just drew, I have just two words to say: Card Destruction!" Our cards fly out of our hands, forcing us to draw new hands. I draw my new hand without even looking at it. "And my new hand brings me new possibilities. I set one more card, and end my turn."

"Come on Mai, show him that you can use any hand to win!" That Jounouchi, he really is worried, isn't he? Not that I blame him, after what happened in the last duel he saw me in. Not to worry though, because my new hand happens to be just fine: Harpy Lady 1, Amazoness Swordswoman, Mirror Wall, Hysteric Party, Harpy's Pet Dragon, and Dramatic Rescue. Yes, Roulette hasn't slowed me down at all. I'll show him that he doesn't have as much power as he thinks he does.

"First I set two cards." Mirror Wall and Hysteric Party. "And now I summon the Amazoness Swordswoman. Attack his Chainsaw Insect." The Gravekeeper's Servant sends the top card from my deck to the grave as my swordswoman rushes for his Chainsaw Insect, and ends up caught in his maw, the upper halve of her body cut clean off. I'll definitely savor the look on Roulette's face when my Amazon spun around, stabbing him in the chest for 900 points of damage.

"Cute, sacrificing a monster that sends your damage to me, but don't get too cocky. After all, you have to draw a card now, which activates my trap, Greed!" As I draw my next card, Fairy's Hand Mirror, I can feel the rest of my legs freezing up. "You see, with everything you take from me, more and more you shall be my doll."

"Whatever. I think you'll find that I can make far better use of your gifts then you ever could. End turn." Roulette draws his next card, and shrugs.

"Not the right card for this time, but it will be coming soon enough. For now, I press my attack with Chainsaw Insect." It's too late for him now.

"I activate my trap card, Hysteric Party, allowing me to summon every Harpy Lady in my graveyard after discarding one card, and I choose Harpy Lady 1 as my discard." He smiles back at me.

"I'm sorry my dear, but that's the only Harpy you'll be summoning today. Activate trap card, The Transmigration Prophecy. I return Harpy Queen and Cyber Harpy Lady back to your deck."

"That's fine; I only needed Harpy Lady 1 anyway. Having summoned her onto the field, I activate Harpy Hunting Ground's special effect, and destroy Gravekeeper's Servant." My Harpy Lady hunts down his servant, and dispatches him in one fell swoop before returning to me. "Now the real question is, are you brave enough to attack me anyway, knowing that you could give me just the card I need to win?"

"You know, you bark an awful lot, but it's not surprising when I remember what you are. Chainsaw Insect, kill that harpy!" Nice veiled insult, but too bad you didn't see through my veiled threat.

"I activate my other trap, Mirror Wall." Panes of crystal fall between us, and his monster smashes into itself, cutting his attack in half, letting my Harpy Lady make short work of him. This means that I have to draw another card, Amazoness Archers, which deals another 500 points of damage to me. I can take it, even though my waist is beginning to feel rather stiff.

"Well you're just full of surprises, aren't you? I set one monster, and end my turn."

"Actually, I've one card left to play before you end your turn. Shadow of Eyes, show me his monster." Compelled by my eyes, his monster reveals itself as the Dark Cat with White Tail. If I'd have attacked him blindly, I would be forced to return my monsters back to my hand, not a good position to be in. "Now your turn is over." I draw my next card, listening to Shizuka practically gush over with admiration for that last play. I admit, it went pretty well for me, but this is no time to relax. The Amazoness Spellcaster isn't what I need right now, but it should be able to help me before too long. I let the Mirror Wall fall, since I can't afford the upkeep right now.

"Harpy Lady 1, attack his Dark Cat with White Tail." She dives down and grabs the cat up in her legs, tossing it off into the distance for 1000 points of damage. "Now I set one card, and end my turn." Fairy's Hand Mirror should be good insurance, now that he can't rely on Chainsaw Insect anymore. Roulette draws his next card, and his eyes shine in a leering manner.

"Maybe you defeated Chainsaw Insect, but I doubt that you can do it again. I play Eternal Mausoleum!" Everything went black, just like that man in China said had happened when he played against Roulette. The light returned after a moment, and we were in some sort of ancient tomb. The walls and floor were covered in designs that looked just like Duel Monsters, and somehow, that seemed far more significant to me then it should have. "Now, I special summon Chainsaw Insect back from the grave to attack your Harpy Lady, and I think it'll go a little differently this time around." Like he said, I didn't have any traps left, so this time my Harpy died, and now my waist has turned to porcelain. I draw a new card, causing my chest to join the rest of my body in frozen perfection, at least as far as _his_ eyes were concerned. "End turn."

I look at the card I just drew, and it's Enchanted Javelin. Without a monster to protect me, this won't do me much good. All he has to do is summon another monster, and he wins. Damn it, is this as far as I can go? So many times I've come close to grasping that one great victory, but I'm just never strong enough to do it. That's when I heard Jounouchi's voice just behind me, whispering into my ear.

"Come on Mai, you know you've got nothing to worry about. This guy can talk trash all he wants, but we both know that you're nobody's doll. So draw that card, and show him how strong you really are." Roulette coughed theatrically.

"Boy, this is a matter between adults. Go away." The shadows tossed Jounouchi back to the others, with Shizuka catching him just before he would have fallen off the edge of the bridge. Idiot, this is an illusion, the void beneath us isn't really there. And of course, I'm not really turning into a doll. I turn my head towards Jounouchi, and think of how earnestly sweet the guy is. I draw my next card, and I don't have to look in order to know what it is.

"I summon the Harpy Queen, and use Harpy's Hunting Ground to destroy Greed. I set one card, and end my turn." Yes, go ahead and try Roulette. You'll see that you're the one who's going to break first.

"Such a stubborn woman, resisting her fate until the very end." He draws his next card. "Fortunately, I can still defeat you, even without Greed. First I special summon Cure Mermaid in defense mode, and then I sacrifice my Chainsaw Insect to summon the Great Maju Garzett!" A towering demonic figure, vaguely reminiscent of the God of the Obelisk replaced his insect, with twice the attack power at 4800. "Great Maju Garzett, use Great Demon Crush to destroy her Harpy Queen!" His monster reared back to strike, which was just the right time for my trap.

"I activate Enchanted Javelin!" The Javelin appears in my hand, and I effortlessly toss it at his monster, giving me 4800 life points, and for a brief moment my body is all back to normal, before Harpy Queen is killed again, at which point I drop down to 2800 life points, and my legs are porcelain again.

"Whatever, all you've done is to buy yourself a short reprieve. End Turn." I ignore his barking, as it doesn't mean a thing to me. I draw my next card, and again, I don't need to look to know what it is.

"I summon Amazoness Paladin." I've been told that the Paladin and I share a certain resemblance, and in this Shadow Game that resemblance has somehow become identity, which makes this next move all the more cathartic. "And now I play Amazoness Spellcaster, and I choose your Great Maju Garzett as my target." Amazoness Paladin's attack rises to 4800 while Great Maju Garzett's drops to 1700. "Let's see, it's my turn, you have no traps, and there's a thirty-one hundred point difference between our strongest monsters. Yeah, I'd say I've got this one won. Tell you what though, if you hand over that 'contract' of yours, I'll let you surrender, instead of destroying you. How does that sound?" Roulette chuckled bitterly.

"Well shit, looks like I don't get my doll after all. So much for happy endings, eh? Still, I've been a loyal servant to Madam Dopol, so I not too worried about my fate. After all, the master plan has gone off without a hitch, even considering Yamada's idiocy." Jounouchi got back up.

"What are you talking about? In case you haven't noticed, we've been kicking your asses all over the place."

"Clearly you've no head for strategy, boy. Think for a moment. Weren't you all on your way somewhere, but once you saw Mai and me, you started following us. Now, can you imagine what's been accomplished having you all corralled in this spot?" I had to keep myself under control to keep from attacking prematurely.

"You son of a bitch! That's why you've been running us ragged all across downtown Domino, isn't it? So that the last of you could go after Yuugi without any obstructions, is that it?" Jounouchi was about to fly into him, but I held him back.

"You lousy bastard, I ought to kill you right now. You and that bitch master of yours. Do you even have the slightest idea what Prometheus and her brother have been through? Not that you'd ever care, you just used them until there was nothing left of them."

"My, you certainly have a lot of sympathy for that pyro-bitch."

"It's not just him." Bakura spoke up. "Dopol took advantage of Dual, using her hate against her, to fuel her Shadow Games. You really don't care about anyone but yourself, do you?" Roulette shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not? It's certainly worked out well enough, now hasn't it? What I really should say is—" Whatever he was about to say was cut off when my Amazoness Paladin slew his Great Maju Garzett. Roulette fell back against the wall without a word as his Millennium Item slipped from his hand. I ran over to pick it and the contract up before racing out of the alleyway.

"Come on you guys, we've got to get moving, Yuugi needs our help." Jounouchi was the first by my side, and the others weren't far behind.

"I can't believe it, he told us what he was doing, and we still let ourselves get sucked into it. Damn it, if this means we won't get there in time…"

"Don't worry Jounouchi, Yuugi's a tough guy, remember? I'll bet you by the time we get back he'll have already kicked the last guy's ass and he'll be wondering what the big deal was." I certainly hope that wasn't just bravado on my part; who knows what sort of opponent Yuugi will be facing?

* * *

"Would you relax Sakharov? Everything is going just fine." She clearly didn't believe me, her eyes said as much. 

"You say that, but the fact is that you've always had a certain... reluctance towards our mission. I'm just checking tomake sure that you're going to give this your all. You wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last time, would you? That's why you joined up with Madam Dopol in the first place, remember?" I'll never forget what drove me to these people, to that woman.

"We're on the very cusp of success, and I've taken too many lives to cower away now. Don't worry, I've no intention of holding back against Yuugi." She smirked at me.

"Well, so long as you do, I won't have any trouble picking up the slack if you fail anyway. Good luck, Paracelsus." I ignore her, and begin what I hope will be the final phase of the plan, and approach the Kame Game Store.


	6. Chapter 6

To Protect That Which is Precious.

"I don't want to be the one to say this Yuugi," Grandpa looked at me with grave concern in his eyes, "But I think that Jounouchi and the others are in trouble." He was right of course, but I didn't want to dwell on those thoughts. I knew that Jounouchi and Mai could take care of themselves, but who knows what our new enemy is capable of, what they might do or who they would hurt to get at us?

"It's not just Jounouchi and Mai that I'm worried about." Anzu was looking down at her empty plate, which had been full not too long ago. "Didn't it seem just a little…I don't know, convenient, the way Bakura's sister showed up when she did? Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but didn't Bakura seem odd when he saw her, like he'd seen a ghost or something? I know, it's Bakura, he always seems odd, but I don't think I've ever seen him quite like that before." She paused to take a breath. To be honest, I think we were all a little suspicious, but it had been a long time since something good had happened for Bakura, so when Honda insisted, we all went along with it, hoping for the best. Until he gets back though, I have no idea whether we're being paranoid or not.

"And don't forget about Kaiba." Anzu started again, "He wouldn't say it in one thousand years, but he does consider us friends in his own fashion, and if there's a group coming after us, then they're bound to send someone after him." Anzu was right. I hadn't thought about that, but Seto was bound to be a target if we were. I leaped out of my chair and ran to the phone, hoping that Seto would pick it up, that it wasn't too late. The phone rings for a while, but I keep hanging on, not wanting to give up on even one friend.

"Hello Yuugi. I see that you've finally called."

"Seto! You're okay!" I hear him chuckle, and while it still has its cold, derisive quality, I can feel a sliver of warmth through the phone line.

"Of course I'm okay. After all, you're the only one who can defeat me Yuugi. The one they sent to duel me was a fool, though one with promise." He paused, and I'm sure that if he were right here, I'd see him dip his head in contemplation. "But onto new business; Yuugi, you and your friends need to get all your things together, including an overnight change of clothes. In one hour, a limo will be arriving in front of your house to bring you over to Kaiba Corp. From there, we're going to go after 'Dopol', as she calls herself."

"You mean you know where she is? Where she's been trying to make Millennium Items?" I hear him scoff at me.

"I don't know that it's where she made them, but I do know that it's where she's taken up residence. Now I still have some more work to do, but once we're in the air, I can tell you where we're going and what I know about her." Seto hung up the phone without saying goodbye, but that didn't matter. He was okay, and if he was okay, then so was everyone else. I felt like dancing, except I wasn't any good at it, despite Anzu's past efforts to improve my coordination, so I settled for just hopping around, not caring what Anzu or Grandpa thought of it.

"Whoa, Yuugi, don't hold it all in, share the good news with the rest of us." Grandpa was right; I should have started talking right away.

"Seto's okay and he says he knows where Dopol is! He's going to send a limo to pick us up so we can go there and put a stop to all this! Isn't that great?" Just then I heard the door to the store slam shut.

"So Ryong failed; That's quite a shame to hear. I always felt that of all of us, he held the most promise." The three of us turned to the man who just entered the shop. He was a middle aged man in an expensive suit, not the sort of guy you'd expect to be a Duelist, but he was wearing his Duel Disc, and he had his deck and Millennium Item at the ready. "I recommend that you come outside Yuugi. There's not much room in here, and I don't want to have to hurt your friend or your grandfather to get at you." I step forward, blocking him off from them.

"Who are you? Why are you coming after us? What could possibly be so important that you need to murder people to get at it?" He clenched his hand around his Millennium Item.

"Those are all good questions, but for now, I'll just answer the first one as best I can. Call me Paracelsus. If you want to know more, you'll have to defeat me. Either way, they'll be safe, so you should be okay with this." I kept my eyes narrowed on him. He wasn't like Yamada, a foolish kid who'd made a stupid decision; Paracelsus knew full and well what he was doing, and was going to do it anyway.

"Grandpa, go get my Duel Disc. Paracelsus, if this is what I have to do to find the truth, then I will." Something about what I said seemed to take him back, and for a moment he seemed like a different person, but that quickly passed.

"That's very good Yuugi. You should always be willing to do whatever it takes to protect your friends." He opened the door and stopped ten meters out, waiting in what I assumed to be his dueling posture. Grandpa handed me my Duel Disc and gripped my shoulders.

"I don't know how much good this will do Yuugi, but please be careful. Remember that the Shadow Games have infinite forms, but they're all illusions, every last one of them. Keep the light in your heart, and you'll be able to win." I give my Grandpa a quick hug, and I thank him. As I walk outside, I realize that Anzu is right behind me.

"Anzu, please, go back inside. There's no telling what he might do, so wait for me." Anzu shook her head.

"No Yuugi, I'm not going to let you face him alone. Even if all I can do is cheer for you, I'll do it at the top of my lungs if it'll help you win, so don't think I'll ever let you face your troubles alone, ever." Anzu, you don't know how much that means to me. I can't say it in words, but I meet your eyes, and nod. I walk into place, and now I stand opposite to Paracelsus.

"It's admirable, the way she cares about you. In the event that you do win, make sure you never, ever betray her trust in you. Otherwise this battle would have no meaning at all." He locked his Duel Disc into place, and I feel the familiar flow of shadows around us, cutting us off from the rest of the world. "My turn." Paracelsus drew his card and looked over his hand. "I set one monster, and two cards. End turn." As he set his monster, a thin thread of energy appeared, and at first I thought that it was connected to Paracelsus, but then I saw that it was passing through him to connect to a young woman. She was standing next to a wheelchair, and she looked at me with piercing brown eyes. "What are you waiting for? Draw your card, now!" Maybe I was just imagining things, but his voice seemed full of urgency, like he really didn't want to do this any longer then he thought he had to. I shake my head, and focus my mind on my hand: Dark Magician, Buster Blader, Polymerization, Spell Economics, Precious Cards From Beyond, and Silent Swordsman LV5. Whatever happens next, I can't get scared.

"I play Polymerization to fuse Dark Magician and Buster Blader into Dark Paladin!" As soon as Dark Paladin appeared on the field, a thread shot out from his back, passing right through me as it connected to… Jounouchi!

"Yuugi! What's going on? How'd I get here so fast?" It really looked like it was Jounouchi, but it couldn't be. I can remember another Shadow Game, when Shadi was testing me, and how he'd summoned an illusion of Jounouchi to see if I would be willing to sacrifice him to save myself. I couldn't do it then, and I can't do it now, but if I hold back Dark Paladin and he gets destroyed, what will that do to Jounouchi? And what about the young woman behind Paracelsus, is she just an illusion, or is she somehow here too?

"Don't fall for it Yuugi!" I turned to Anzu, who held a determined look on her face. "That's not really Jounouchi. He's just trying to take advantage of your kindness." She glared at Paracelsus, a look of anger I recognized from after my duel with Seto in Duelist Kingdom. "Do you have no shame? You have no idea the pain and loss Yuugi has suffered, but you don't care about any of that, do you? You don't even care if someone close to you gets hurt, just so long as you get what you want." Now she turned back to me. "Yuugi, you show him that your bond with Jounouchi is stronger then anything, you hear me?" I nod.

"Thank you, Anzu." She gives me a quick smile as I bring myself back to the duel. There's more that I want to say to her, but it will have to wait for later. Paracelsus looked at us with an expression I couldn't quite place.

"That was quite the pretty little speech, young lady. You must be well practiced at making them. Yuugi, you won't let her down now, not after that, will you?" Anzu growled at him, but I listened to him, and I heard only sincerity in his voice. He didn't say it, but I couldn't help getting the sense that he wasn't so heartless, the way Anzu implied he was. Maybe, I can understand him through this duel, why he's willing to risk everything to win. I sure hope so.

"Dark Paladin, attack!" Dark Paladin swung his staff, slicing the air in half. As the blast reached his card, it flipped over, revealing the Rigorous Reaver. The wooden monster caught the attack on its bloody scythe and everything seemed to freeze. I couldn't help but notice the woman grimacing like the monster she was connected to, and I swear that Paracelsus had to keep himself from looking back.

"Yuugi, in accordance with Rigorous Reaver's effect, we each get to choose a card from each other's hand and discard them. I choose your last card." Silent Swordsman LV5 slips from my hand into the graveyard. I look at his hand, hoping that maybe I could divine his strategy from the card I chose.

"I choose your first card." He turns it over, Homunculus the Alchemic Being, before sending it to the grave.

"Very good." The battle that had previously been frozen came to an end when Dark Paladin's attack finally broke Rigorous Reaver's scythe, cutting him in half. I flinched when I saw the huge gaping cut spreading across the woman's body, and this time Paracelsus did look back. "Don't worry, I know it hurts now, but you'll be all better before long." The woman smiled back at him, her trust in him almost palpable, before disappearing back into the shadows. The silence hanging in the air was suddenly broken when Rigorous Reaver's scythe suddenly flew at Dark Paladin, breaking his staff in half. Paracelsus turned back to me, with only a vague hint of regret his face. "Oh yes, I almost forgot. When Rigorous Reaver is destroyed in battle, the monster that destroyed him loses five hundred attack and defense points." I looked back to Jounouchi, and his hands looked all broken and bloody, like someone had taken razor blades to them.

"Hey, don't worry about me buddy, just make sure you kick his ass." That is what Jounouchi would say, but I know that the real Jounouchi would be much angrier; he wouldn't try to hide his pain from me. Still, looking at his eyes, I forget that logic, and I try to reach out to him, only to have my hands pass right through him. Paracelsus' voice pulled me back into the duel.

"Do you understand now? No matter what pain he suffers, there's nothing you can do for him. You're only option is to try to keep him alive. Do you have anything else you want to do this turn?" He's trying to bait me, goad me into doing something foolish, but I can tell that his heart isn't in it.

"No. End Turn." Paracelsus draws his next card, and sets it, a face-down monster. Again a thread appears and passes through Paracelsus before connecting to a rotund boy. Suddenly the boy called out to Paracelsus.

"Hey doctor, I thought you said that I was all better now, so why do I have to see you again?" He turned to the boy with a sympathetic smile on his face.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with you. There's just someone who needs your help, that's all. Now be a good boy, and wait patiently." The boy smiled at Paracelsus before sitting down, as though waiting his turn. Paracelsus turned back to me. "Sorry for the delay. End turn." Was he really a doctor? I want to trust him, to see the best in him, but I can still see that Anzu doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him. I draw my next card, Dedication Through Light and Darkness. I look to Jounouchi, and he just gives me a big thumb up, which is really creepy given that half of his thumb is missing, but I know that he's trying to help.

"Dark Paladin, attack his face down monster." Dark Paladin takes the bladed end of his staff and swings it at the monster, destroying Lord Poison, and triggering his special effect. As Lord Poison breaks apart, the rotund boy begins to bleed profusely before disappearing back into the shadows as he's replaced by the young woman from before, her wounds healing as the boy's blood flows into her, just as Rigorous Reaver returns from the grave in defense position. "You… you used him. He trusted you, and you threw away his life." Paracelsus looks somberly at me.

"Sometimes sacrifices must be made, the core truth of our world." He wouldn't say anymore, so I ended my turn. He drew his next card. "I set one more monster, and end my turn." A new thread forms from his monster, this one connecting to an elderly woman. Her throat was covered in surgical scars, but her voice was smooth and clean.

"So, to what pleasure do I owe this invitation, young man?" Paracelsus acknowledged her with a curt nod.

"I'm just calling in an old favor. Don't worry, I won't keep you long." Is he going to sacrifice her too? Or is he waiting for me to attack, to kill her too? I shake my head, shaking those thoughts out. They're just illusions, no matter how real they may seem to be, and nothing more. I draw my next card, Gamma the Magnet Warrior.

"I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior." As Gamma appeared on the field, a new thread appeared, and when it passed through me, I heard another voice that I recognized instantly.

"Hey Yuugi." Honda's voice rang loud and clear. "Sorry I took so long to show up, but I'm ready to kick ass for you. Just say the word and I'll be right there." It's not really Honda, it's not really Honda, it's not really Honda!

"Gamma, attack Rigorous Reaver!" As Gamma rushed towards Rigorous Reaver, the latter was suddenly surrounded by a pale purple mist, which caused it to wilt and wither.

"I activate my trap card, Alchemy Cycle. By reducing a face-up monster's attack to zero, I get to draw one card when it's destroyed." Gamma punched through Rigorous Reaver effortlessly, striking a hole through the young woman. She vanished as the reaver's scythe imbedded itself into Gamma's Body, causing Honda's sides to bleed profusely. I can't let myself be distracted, not now.

"Dark Paladin, attack his face down monster." His attack clipped Howling Insect's wings, which was paralleled in the elderly woman's scars opening up, the blood pouring down her throat before she too vanished. A quick shriek echoed in the air as a new monster, Pinch Hopper, appeared on the field, thanks to Howling Insect's effect. This monster's thread connected to an athletic looking girl. She spoke with a vaguely country accent, unlike everyone else who'd appeared behind Paracelsus.

"Hey doc, how're you doing?" Then she looked at me. "Man, that guy's really short, isn't he? I think he should go to your office some time." The phantoms of Jounouchi and Honda spoke as one in response to the girl.

"Lay off him if you know what's good for you!" The monsters they were connected to seemed eager to attack, but they still couldn't break the rules of the game. I called out the end of my turn, and Paracelsus drew his next card.

"Yuugi, I can see that you're friends are suffering." He closed his eyes. "I'm going to bring an end to their pain. First I sacrifice Pinch Hopper in order to summon Gigaplant." Pinch Hopper and the athletic girl disappeared without a sound as the new monster appeared. It was like a rose gone horribly wrong, gigantically mutated with limbs like praying mantis claws jutting out of it from every conceivable angle. "This also activates Pinch Hopper's effect. By sending him to the grave from the field, I can special summon one insect monster from my hand. I choose the Millennium Scorpion." A giant scorpion, adorned with jewels and emblazoned with the Eye of Horus appeared alongside Gigaplant. His monster's threads manifested simultaneously, rushing through Paracelsus to connect to their respective phantoms. Gigaplant's phantom was a man with a thin scar along his chest, where his heart was, while Millennium Scorpion's was…no, it couldn't be. Anzu and I cried out at the same time, neither of us believing what we saw.

"Shizuka!" Paracelsus looked at us with wide-eyed shock.

"How do you know her? Wait." He pauses, like he's remembering something. "That's right. Yes, she had a brother, Jounouchi, the same Jounouchi that Prometheus went after. It looks like we have an even deeper connection then I thought." I had to ask, though I had my suspicions.

"Who are you? Why is Shizuka on your side?" Paracelsus shook his finger at me.

"Not yet, Yuugi. You haven't won yet. You're not even close to victory. I activate my trap card, Curse of Aging, to reduce your monsters attack power by five hundred points." A thick grey fog, filled with ghostly shapes, rushes over my monsters, sapping their strength. Before long Jounouchi and Honda look like they've aged fifty years, their wounds becoming worse with time. "Gigaplant, kill Dark Paladin. Millennium Scorpion, destroy Gamma the Magnet Warrior." Gigaplant rends Dark Paladin with its claws, tearing Jounouchi apart before he returns to the shadows. Millennium Scorpion grabs a hold of Gamma with its claws before piercing it with its tail, causing Honda to fall apart as the poison rushes through him, drawing 500 attack points from his remains. "End Turn."

"Yuugi!" I didn't realize it at first, but I must have fallen to my knees, because Anzu was lifting me up back to my feet. "Yuugi, I know how much you must be hurting right now, but please, don't give up now. The real Jounouchi and Honda wouldn't want to see you like this." How many times has it been now? How many times has Anzu saved me like this, given me the strength I need?

"Thank you, Anzu." I draw my next card, Marshmallon. "I set one monster in defense mode, and end my turn." The moment I set Marshmallon, a thread shoots through me, and when I look back, I see that it's connected to Bakura. He just smiles at me, and I quickly smile back. I look back at Paracelsus as he draws his next card, and a strange light seems to shine from his eyes.

"Earlier I had said that sacrifice was the core truth of our world. I'm going to break that truth now. I play Eternal Mausoleum!" A flash of darkness rushed over us, and once again we were in his tomb. "I now normal summon Gigaplant in order to active his effect, and special summon Rigorous Reaver in defense mode. Next I use the power of the Mausoleum to special summon Homuculus the Alchemic Being from the grave." Rigorous Reaver descended onto the field, along with the young woman from before, while Homunculus arose from the darkness, and with him came a young boy, whose eyes just like Paracelsus'.

"Hey dad, can I go home soon?" Paracelsus smiled at his son with such warmth, that I could hardly believe that this was the man I was dueling.

"Very soon son; I just need a little more power, and then we can go home."

* * *

Well, who'd have thought that Paracelsus could be so brutal? I think that I might be rubbing off on him after all, though he'd be appalled at the notion. Of course, he has been taking his sweet time getting onto the offensive, time that I would never waste. Still, now that he's played Eternal Mausoleum, it shouldn't take him long to wrap this all up and we can finally part ways. Not that it's all been bad, but it would be a good idea to keep our association at a strictly professional level.

* * *

"Is…is he being held hostage?" Paracelsus looked back to me, his face instantly hardening.

"No, nothing of the sort; I'd never cooperate with _anyone_ who'd try to hurt my son." He fell silent for a moment. "I've performed hundreds of operations over the years, and they were all successful. Every. Last. One. When Shizuka was brought to my hospital for her eye operation, she was given a fifty percent chance of success, even with the latest technology and techniques. I led that operation, and I had no doubt about the outcome whatsoever, so success came as no surprise to me. I was feeling rather heady, and why not? I had managed to work a miracle." Paracelsus closed his eyes. "It was about a month later that I discovered that my son had developed malignant tumors in his brain. I insisted on leading the operation, and when my colleagues objected, citing a lack of objectivity on my part, I simply pointed to my record, and that silenced them. The operation was given a fifty percent chance for success. I cremated my son three days later."

"I…" What could I say? How could I possibly convey to him how wrong this was, when I could only just accept having to send Atem away? How could I argue against his heartfelt desire to see his son again? I know there has to be a way; I just need to see this duel through.

"Millennium Scorpion, attack his face down monster!" His scorpion rushed up to Marshmallon and tried to pierce it with its tail, but it just bounced back as Marshmallon leapt to Paracelsus and bit him for 1000 points of damage. "It looks like you've managed to buy yourself some time, but let me make this clear Yuugi; I will break down any barrier to reach my goal. End Turn." There was no doubt, no chink in the armor of his conviction. I draw my card, and it's Monster Reborn. By itself, this card would seem like a cruel joke, but I think I can use this to show Paracelsus that no matter what, some things can't be undone, no matter how painful they are.

"I play Monster Reborn in order to special summon Dark Magician. Next, I play Dedication through Light and Darkness and sacrifice Dark Magician to special summon Dark Magician of Chaos." Waves of shadow and light enveloped the Dark Magician, changing him into the Dark Magician of Chaos, and it was only a moment later that his thread shot through me, and I knew right away whose phantom it would connect to, but when I turned to look at him, all I saw was a shadow. I suppose I was a little disappointed that I couldn't see him, even as just an illusion, but it does reassure me that Isis was right, that he was still where he belonged, and that nothing could change that. "I now activate Dark Magician of Chaos's effect to draw Monster Reborn back from the grave, and I play it again to special summon Buster Blader." Buster Blader appears in a flash of lightning, and his thread connects to Otogi.

"It's about time you called for me. Let's show this guy why you're the King of Games." I nodded to Otogi.

"Dark Magician of Chaos, attack his Millennium Scorpion." There was no violence to the attack, nor any pain or hate driving it. The scorpion simply vanished, alongside Shizuka. "When Dark Magician of Chaos defeats his enemy, the monster is removed from the game, beyond the reach of even the Eternal Mausoleum." Paracelsus started laughing in an odd manner.

"I see. You think that this will prove that I'm wrong, don't you? That I should accept my failure and leave my son to rest in a jar? Ridiculous! I've saved hundreds of lives, so even if I do sacrifice a few souls, the balance will still come out in my favor. So go ahead, attack all you want. I'll still save my son."

"Buster Blader, attack Gigaplant." With a flash, Buster Blader sliced Gigaplant in half, an action that was mirrored with the scarred man for only a moment before they both vanished. "End Turn." Paracelsus drew his next card.

"Yuugi, you may think that you've managed to turn things around, but you've accomplished nothing of the sort. First I'm going to bring back Gigaplant, and then I'll use my normal summon to activate his effect, and special summon Brain Crusher from my hand." A gigantic insect, like a cross between a Termite Queen and a Praying Mantis appeared on the field, its thread connecting to an old man with long wispy white hair. "Next, I play Book of Moon on Buster Blader, forcing him into defense mode. Now, Brain Crusher, attack Buster Blader." His insect brought its claws down onto Buster Blader and crushed his head, and I couldn't bring myself to look back as Otogi collapsed in a bloody heap before disappearing. "One down and one to go; Rigorous Reaver, attack Dark Magician of Chaos!" Rigorous Reaver rushed forward as Dark Magician of Chaos shot a blast of magic at it, causing everything but the scythe to vanish. Then the scythe embedded itself into the Dark Magician of Chaos, causing Atem's shadow to grip his sides. "Gigaplant, finish him off." Gigaplant picked the magician up and drew him into its mouth, consuming him, and a moment later, Atem's shadow vanished. "Last of all, I activate Brain Crusher's effect, and special summon _your_ Buster Blader onto my side of the field." Lightning flashed on his side of the field, and along with Buster Blader, Otogi was standing alongside Paracelsus.

"You're pathetic Yuugi; even with your strongest monsters on the field, you couldn't last more then a turn against this nobody. Are you really the same guy who defeated me and reclaimed the puzzle, who won the Ceremonial Battle and returned the other you back to the afterlife? Come on; stop coddling this guy and win already!" Paracelsus lashed out at Otogi, but his fist passed right through him.

"Be quiet! I'll not have you mock me, you're not even real!" Paracelsus turned back to me. "It's your turn." I draw my next card, Negate Attack, and I set it.

"Paracelsus, I won't give up, because I understand your pain. I also have someone, someone that I wish, more then anything, that he could come back to me, that things could be the way they used to be. But…the truth is, is that it would be more painful to take him away from where he belongs, then to see him back with me, because then I'd never be able to move forward."

"Move forward? He _was_ my future, and as soon as I win this duel, he will be again." Paracelsus drew his next card. "I special summon Howling Insect from the grave in defense mode, and then I set one card, and end my turn." I draw my next card, Mausoleum of the Emperor.

"End Turn." Paracelsus drew his next card, and sneered.

"One more turn, that's all you're going to get. End Turn." I draw my next card, Magic Formula.

"End Turn." Paracelsus drew his next card, and smiled.

"This duel is over. I play Shield Crush to destroy your Marshmallon." A hard beam of light shot down at Marshmallon, punching a hole right through it, and Bakura disappeared with that same hole in his stomach. "Now, Buster Blader, attack Yuugi directly." Normally Buster Blader would have already been upon me, but Otogi was holding him back. I could tell though that he couldn't do it for very long. I was just about to activate Negate Attack when Anzu suddenly ran in front of me, shielding me as Negate Attack activated itself. Buster Blader's sword stopped only a few centimeters away from Anzu, but she didn't flinch at all.

"What the hell? What do you think you're doing young lady?" Anzu didn't respond to him. She just looked back at me, her eyes shining with concern. Then she looked at my trap card, and sighed.

"I'm sorry Yuugi; I should have realized that you were prepared for that. I just…didn't want to see you get hurt, and this was all I could think to do." I found myself smiling just then, and I knew why.

"Anzu, you've just turned this whole duel around. Thank you." I stepped forward to Anzu's side, and faced Paracelsus. "Paracelsus, we've both lost someone precious to us, someone we think the world of, but there are still those who care for me, and I know that all the people who still care for you; friends, family, and all your patients, I know that they would help you, if you'd let them. It's not too late, you can help us defeat Dopol, and then you can go home." He laughed, with an echoing hollow emptiness to his voice.

"Yuugi, you're speaking as though you've won."

"That's because I have." I draw my card, and I can feel its pulse. "First I play Mausoleum of the Emperor, and then I follow up with Spell Economics. Now I can tribute summon a monster without tributes or life points. I now summon Osiris the Sky Dragon!" Lightning cracked down around us as Osiris descended on the field, roaring even louder then the thunder. A massive thread of energy shot out from him, but it didn't pass through me, but instead, it went straight for Anzu. I didn't say anything; it would have been really embarrassing to admit how appropriate that seemed to me, a silly thing to be worrying about at a time like this, but there you go.

"Yuugi, there's just one problem; you only have two cards in your hand. I can kill your god quite easily." I shake my head.

"I activate my final card, Precious Cards from Beyond. When I perform a tribute summon that required two or more tributes, I draw two cards." The cards fly from my deck to my hand, Silent Swordsman LV7 and Silent Magician LV8, giving me three cards, for three thousand attack points. "Paracelsus, it's over. I don't want to attack, so please, don't make me." Paracelsus' last two cards slipped out of his hand, the wind blowing them away from the field, past the illusion of the Eternal Mausoleum.

"Yuugi, how is this possible? I'm more then thirty years older then you, yet, you're so much wiser then I ever was. So many lives I've taken since I've joined up with Dopol, all the while convinced that it was right, because I would use that power that she promised me to save everyone, to save my son." He drops his Millennium Item, and it skips across the street towards us. "I should have listened to my wife, to my friends, and then maybe I wouldn't have been caught up in all this, this necromancy, this alchemy."

"Paracelsus, do you know how Dopol got a hold of the Millennium Tome? And why she's targeting us?" He closed his eyes, possibly in contemplation.

"I remember seeing that book once. According to her, it was more then three thousand years old, yet when she turned the pages, they didn't crack at all. I think that hers must have been a copy, unless of course the book itself was invested with magic. If her words are to be trusted, the book was a family heirloom for hundreds of years. As for why she's interested in you and your friends, I'm afraid I don't know. I suspect that she's trying to clear away all competition before she reveals herself to the world." Anzu stepped forward, and picked up the Millennium Item.

"That's still a big help. Now come on, bring an end to this game, so we can put an end to this."

"Unfortunately, young lady, I drew too deeply of the shadows for this game, and unless they have their prize, they won't leave. I'm not worried though. Between the two of you, you shouldn't have any trouble defeating Dopol." As he spoke, the shadows began to condense around him, obscuring him from our sight. I wanted to rush after him, but Anzu firmly put her hand down on my shoulder, and shook her head. I had one last question though.

"Paracelsus, what's your real name?" The shadows tightened their grip around him as he raised his hand to put down on his deck.

"Kaetsu. Toshinori Kaetsu." He put his hand down on his deck, and the shadows whipped around him before returning to the Millennium Item, causing Anzu to drop it back onto the ground, just as he fell down, just as I fell to my knees.

* * *

"Yuugi!" I caught him in my arms before he could hurt himself. I'm not surprised at all that he's crying now. He always hated fighting, the thought of hurting other people was…impossible to him, but for the second time today, he's been forced to do just that. I'm just glad that this whole ordeal is almost over with. I can feel him calming down, and now he looks up at me with those open eyes of his.

"Thank you, Anzu, for being here for me. I…" Suddenly we heard someone walking up to us. We looked, hoping that it would be Jounouchi or one of the others, but it was a woman we didn't recognize, dressed in the same sort of suit as Dr. Kaetsu.

"Well, it looks like I have work to do after all."


	7. Chapter 7

Dreams and Memories

The woman just stood there for a while, looking down at her…accomplice? Associate? She was holding the cards that Dr. Kaetsu had dropped when Yuugi summoned Osiris, and eventually she bent down to put the cards back into his deck. She adjusted his posture, to make him more comfortable maybe?

"Get up Yuugi." The woman stood up, and locked her duel disc into place. "We've got a game to play." Tired as he was, Yuugi still tried to get up. Even after everything that had happened to him in the last duel, even after seeing Jounouchi, Honda, Bakura, and Otogi so badly hurt, even after being forced to attack innocent people; Yuugi was still going to fight; he was still going to take all that pain onto himself.

"No." I held Yuugi back. "I won't let you hurt him." I stood up. "I've stood by and watched for too long." I looked the woman square the eyes. "Why can't you just leave him alone?" The woman looked me over as she walked towards us.

"And how exactly do plan to stop me, young lady? After all…" She reached into an inside pocket and pulled out her Millennium Item. "I can draw upon the shadows themselves. What can you possibly do against that?" I swung my foot out far and wide, aiming my kick right at her head. The woman pulled her head back; the shock on her face was loud and clear.

"I suppose that's one answer. But in all seriousness, if you don't get out of my, I'll have to use you as a hostage." She turned her head down to Yuugi. "You don't want to see your friend be hurt because of you, do you?" I could hear Yuugi trying to get back up again, so I turned around and put my hands down on his shoulders.

"Anzu, it's okay. Please…just let me…" I shook my head.

"Yuugi, you've already done enough today." I reached down to his Duel Disc, and carefully pulled it off. "And not just today; you've sacrificed yourself for your friends more times then I care to remember." I took out his deck, and replace it with my own. "So please, let me protect you, the way you protect us." I put on the Duel Disc and locked it into place. Yuugi looked me in the eyes, and he understood. He walked back to the game store and sat down against the wall. For a moment I remember an old dream I used to have, where I was a knight in shining armor, racing on a white charger to rescue Yuugi from the bullies that seemed to infest our school. I turned to face the woman, who seemed to be evaluating me, sizing me up like a butcher sizes up a flank of meat.

"You are serious, aren't you? All right then. This wasn't part of the plan, but your soul should be powerful enough for our purposes. But before we start, I'm Sakharov. And you?"

"Anzu Mazaki. Now hurry up and draw your cards." She laughed a little bit.

"My, my, you're certainly full of conviction, aren't you? That's good. Without that conviction, that sense of purpose, you would have no chance of defeating me." The wind howled as the shadows whipped around us.

"Yuugi! Anzu!" It was Jounouchi, Mai, Bakura, and all the others. They were okay, which meant that I didn't have anything to worry about now.

* * *

Man, I can't believe it took so long for us to get back here, but now we're back.

"Jounouchi! Everyone!" Yuugi was slumped against the wall of the store, and he looked like he'd just been through hell.

"Yuugi, what's going on? Are you okay?" He looked up at us with a smile on his face.

"I'm okay, really. Anzu insisted that I sit this one out, that's all." Anzu? We all turned around just in time to see Anzu and some woman in a business suit about to start dueling.

"Well, it looks like your friends have arrived just in time. You wouldn't want them to miss anything, would you Anzu? I set one monster, and end my turn." This isn't good. She wants Anzu to go on the offensive first, to see what she's capable of. I hope Anzu knows what she's doing. Right when Anzu drew her card, Yuugi started cheering for her.

"We're all here for you Anzu, and we all know you're going to win, so just do your best!" Anzu briefly turned her head to nod, and began her turn.

"Here goes Sakharov. First I play Celestial Transformation in order to special summon Zolga from my hand." There was a bright flash of light as Zolga appeared on the field with halve its attack strength. "Next I tribute Zolga in order to summon the Dark Magician Girl." As Zolga disappeared, Anzu gained 2000 life points from Zolga's effect, and now she had a 2000 attack power monster on her first turn.

"Not bad, Anzu. That was a pretty good use of your first-."

"I'm not done yet. Now I play Sage's Stone to special summon Dark Magician from my deck." A stone appeared in the middle of a magician's circle, and Dark Magician Girl brought her wand down on it, bringing her mentor onto the field.

"Damn." She certainly never pulled off a combo like that in our last duel. Seeing her duel like this, it made me think of all the times that Anzu scared Honda and me off of Yuugi's back, back when we were just a couple of bullies. Things really have changed since then, but this wasn't one of them. You could practically feel her need to protect Yuugi coming off of her in waves, and I definitely didn't envy the woman that she was dueling.

"Woo! Go Anzu; show her what you're made of!" Mai certainly had no problem cheering Anzu on, and it only took a moment for the rest of us to get into the spirit.

"Here I go. Dark Magician Girl…" Anzu had stuck her arm out, but just as she was about to call the attack, she stopped.

* * *

The darkness enveloped me so suddenly, I didn't even have a chance to blink before it pulled away again, and when it did, I wasn't in front of the game shop. I was back in Domino Grade School, just outside my old class room, looking down at a little girl, and a little boy. Suddenly a flash of anger came over me.

"You stupid game, I hate you!" The little girl pulled her hands high, and threw the Game Boy as hard as she could at the ground, smashing it into many pieces. Our stomachs were filled with a lurching sense of self-loathing as Yuugi simply laughed as he started picking up the pieces of his toy, and we couldn't say anything. I tried to reach down, to help Yuugi pick up the pieces, but my hands just passed right through them, through him. Eventually he gathered all the pieces together, put them in his backpack, and returned to class, leaving us alone, all alone.

"So, how do you like my Shadow Game?" I was back in the duel, and the memory was just that, a memory. "Don't worry, from our perspective it only took a moment, and you were the only one who could see anything, so your friends need never know what you saw. I should warn you though, that in the end, you will surrender to me." I could my fists shaking. That bitch, she had no right digging through my memories like that.

"Dark Magician Girl, attack her face down monster!" Sakharov's card flipped up, revealing The Unhappy Maiden. My attack tore through her effortlessly, but unfortunately, thanks to The Unhappy Maiden's effect, my battle phase was over.

"Well now, this duel just keeps getting more and more interesting. Take a look at your Dark Magician Girl, and see what I mean." What the hell was she talking about? It was just the…no. It was me. It was dressed like the Dark Magician Girl, but it had my face. It wasn't like that before, so why did it change? What did it mean? "I take it your turn is over then?" Don't let her get to you Anzu! Unfortunately, I only have two cards left; Gellenduo, and Soul of Purity and Light.

"End Turn." Sakharov drew her card, and reviewed her hand.

"First I play Allure of Darkness. I draw two cards, and then remove one Dark monster in my hand from the game." A shadowy void appeared above Sakharov as she drew her cards, and one of the cards from her hand, Shadowslayer, was sucked in, never to return. "Good. Now the fun can really begin. I play the Eternal Mausoleum!" What? She's got that card already? Everything turned pitch black for a moment, and then we were there again, in his tomb. "Now I summon Fusilier Dragon the Dual-Mode Beast." A sort of cross between a dragon and a tank rolled onto the field, and although it was a seven-star monster, it only had 1400 attack points. "Now, you might think that this monster doesn't stand a chance against your magicians, but that's where you're wrong. All I have to do is play Metamorphosis like so, and I can sacrifice it to summon the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon." Her monster moaned and writhed as its form changed, becoming a true dragon with 2800 attack points, though oddly enough it didn't have a second head, but a mouth growing out of the back of its neck. Sakharov suddenly froze, and I wondered what the shadows were making her see.

"Well, that's the sixth time now I've seen that memory, and you know something? It still hasn't gotten any easier. Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, use Dual Thunder Blast on Dark Magician Girl!" Lighting arced between her monster's mouths before rushing for Dark Magician Girl, frying her on the spot. "I now set one card, and end my turn." Damn it, if I don't do something quick, she's going to tear right through me, and then she'll go after Yuugi again. I won't let that happen, I can't!

"My turn!" I draw my next card, and I don't even bother to suppress the smile on my face. "I'm sorry Sakharov, but it won't matter how many times you bring your dragon back, you won't be able to defeat him. I play Magic Formula, raising Dark Magician's attack power seven hundred points." I watched as Dark Magician read the tome that appeared before him, and his face began to change, into his face; Atem's face. Control yourself Anzu, it's just an illusion, it's not. Really. Him. "Dark Magician…"

It happened again, just as suddenly as before. The darkness rushed over my like a tidal wave, but when the light came back this time, I was in my room, and there I was, hitting my pillow as hard as I could. "That stupid Yuugi, he's ruining everything! He acts all sweet and nice, but he's really just a manipulative jerk! No wonder he doesn't try to stand up for himself, he was just looking for someone to do it for him!" I knew that wasn't true, but I was just so angry, so hurt. At that time, I didn't understand how hard being Yuugi's friend was going to be, and more importantly, I didn't see his kindness for what it was, and thought that I had to bear every burden on my back, alone. Suddenly the girl I once was stopped hitting the pillow and buried her face in it as she cried. I wanted to hold her, comfort her, to let her know that things weren't as bad as they seemed, and how Yuugi would forgive us in spite of how stupid we were, but my voice is silent to her, my touch has no substance to her.

"I'm sorry Yuugi." Her voice, my voice, was just above a whisper. "I can't be a knight, I said that I'd be there for you, but I can't, it's too hard. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I couldn't help myself; even though I knew it wouldn't do any good, I tried to take her, myself, into my arms, but there was nothing for me to take hold of.

"I'm glad to see you're back. I hope that wasn't too much. Well, weren't you going to attack me?" I see what Sakharov is trying to do now. She's trying to manipulate me, she's trying to get me to give up, but she won't succeed. She can pile on all the bad memories she wants, but I will _never_ let Yuugi down, not now and not ever!

"Dark Magician, attack Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon with Black Magic!" The Dark Magician thrust his hand out, and for a brief moment her dragon looked like a photo negative before shattering into a thousand pieces. "I now set one monster, and end my turn." So long as I don't take any damage, Gellenduo can't be destroyed, and I can use it to summon a Light Fairy monster that requires two tributes.

"My turn." She drew her next card with an almost eager hunger in her eyes. "And now I activate my trap card, Ominous Fortunetelling. During my standby phase, I choose one card from your hand, and if I can guess whether its monster, a spell, or a trap card, you take seven hundred points of damage." What? "I choose the only card you have in your hand, and I say it's a monster card." Soul of Purity and Light started to glow with a malefic light, and a thin beam struck me right through my heart, and since I'd just taken damage, Gellenduo would be destroyed. The card flipped up, but what appeared weren't a pair of strange little fairies, but us; Yuugi and me, when we were still little kids. My heart began to ache, not from the damage I took, but from seeing that simple friendship destroyed right in front of my eyes.

"No." Sakharov watched with academic interest as I found myself reaching towards my Gellenduo as it shattered into a thousand pieces and vanished entirely.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you, young lady? I wish that I could take a peek inside your memories, and see what it is that makes you tick. Oh well. I special summon Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon in defense mode, and next I summon Reflect Bounder. Finally I set one more card, and end my turn." I drew my next card, Big Bang Shot. If Sakharov thinks she can hold me back, she's got another thing coming.

"I play Big Bang Shot on Dark Magician, raising his attack by another four hundred points, and when he attacks a defense position monster, the difference between his attack and your defense becomes the damage you take." I brace myself. I'm going to be fine, I'm going to be fine, I'm going to be fine! "Dark Magician…"

The darkness came over me again, but this time it didn't go away. It didn't feel like the shadows were crowding around me, there just wasn't any light. Suddenly I found it very hard to breathe, and there was the phantom sensation of cold metal being pressed against the side of my head.

"All right, I've made up my mind. You, the little wussy one; you're gonna take my orders now, and as for the rest of you, down on the floor, eyes closed, or I shoot the girl!" I can feel my breath becoming short; my chest becomes tight as my heart beats faster and faster. I could die, I could really die. "Now bring me booze and lucky stripe cigarettes, the only brand that's right for a lucky son of a bitch like me!" For several minutes, nothing happened, and then I heard these tiny footsteps making there way towards me. In a moment of lucid calmness, I realized that the one that that criminal was ordering around had to be Yuugi.

"Yuugi, stay back, it's too dangerous!" There wasn't much I could do, given the circumstances, but I didn't want him anywhere near that psycho.

"Shut your damn mouth!" That thug slapped the other me across the face, and I could feel an echo of that pain. For a moment everything is quiet, and then I heard the glass, bottle, and package of cigarettes put on the table, and someone flopped down on the seat across from the criminal and me. "Who the hell said you could take a seat!?" That's when I heard that voice, that voice I hadn't heard for the past six months.

"Let's play a game." In retrospect, I was right. It wasn't _really_ Yuugi who was sitting across from me, playing a crazy game of death to save me, but the reason I had at the time for thinking that? Did I really think that someone had rushed in to rescue me, only to leave before I could see him? Now there's a fairy tale if I ever heard one. But just like before, the game commences, and before long, the criminal is doused in alcohol with a lighter precariously balanced on his hand, and Atem, though that he didn't have that name back then, took my hand and guided me away. Once I heard the flames burst, the light returned to my memory, and when I looked down, it was Yuugi who was right by my side, so happy to see me safe. All I could think about at that time was the mysterious man who'd saved me, and how much I wanted to hear his voice again. If only I'd been thinking clearly and realized, as impossible as it seemed, that Yuugi was the one who'd saved me, maybe things would have turned out differently.

"Back so soon? You seemed like you were having a good time." I'm going to wipe that smirk off that bitch's face it it's the last thing I do.

"Dark Magician, attack her dragon, _now_!" Dark Magician threw a concentrated ball of darkness at her dragon, destroying it instantly. "End Turn." Sakharov drew her next card.

"Ominous Fortunetelling. I choose your only card, and I say it's a _monster_." Soul of Purity and Light turned pitch black this time, and a thin lance of darkness pierced my heart. "And now for my other trap, Shattered Axe! During my standby phase, your Dark Magician will lose five hundred attack points." Dark Magician's form, his form, began to crumble into dust. He was going to fade away, just like before. Knock it off Anzu, it's not. Really. Him! "I'm going to bring back Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon in attack mode this time, and now I play Flint." A ball with three hooked chains appeared and wrapped around Dark Magician, binding his arms. "Now he loses another three hundred attack points, can't change his battle position, and can't even attack." Sakharov flashed me a sanctimonious smile. "End turn." I draw my next card, Waboku. If Sakharov thinks that I can't protect Dark Magician, then she's got another thing coming.

"I set one card, and end my turn." As she draws her next card, I can see Dark Magician crumbling away even more, just as Soul of Purity and Light fires a twin lance of light and darkness through my heart.

"First thing's first, I bring back Fusilier from the grave, and since I special summoned him this time, I get him at full power, twenty-eight hundred attack points. Next I play Card of Sanctity. We each get to draw cards until we each have six cards in our hands." She must be worried about my face down card. I draw my cards until my hand is full again: Soul of Purity and Light, Mage's Power, Elf's Light, Luminous Spark, Dark Witch, and Book of Secret Arts. "This will be fun. I play Future Fusion, and in two turns, Arcana Knight Joker will be on my side of the field." She paused, just like when she attacked before, but only for a moment. "Fusilier, attack Dark Magician!" Bingo. Looks like you couldn't draw anything to stop my trap card after all.

"I activate Waboku!" The three maidens appeared in front of Dark Magician, and no matter how it tried, Sakharov's monster couldn't get past them.

"You're going through a lot of effort to preserve a monster that can't even attack. Maybe I should just destroy him outright. I discard Marie the Fallen One in order to activate Lightning Vortex!" A thick bolt of lightning enveloped Dark Magician, and everything seemed to slow down as the lightning broke him down until only his face was left, and even that faded away. All that survived was the chain, which then spun around wrapped itself around Reflect Bounder. "Don't forget, Anzu. Because he was equipped with Big Bang Shot, he doesn't get to go to the grave; he's removed from the game entirely. Now I play Archfiend's Oath and Spell Economics. With these two cards, I can, once per turn, name the top card of my deck. If I'm right, I get to draw it. If I'm wrong, it gets sent to the grave. I choose Emes the Infinity." The top card from her deck flew out revealing that it was Belial the Marquis of Darkness, before rushing to her graveyard. "Oh well, no big loss, I'll just summon him next turn. End turn."

It's all come down to this one draw. Unless I can draw the right monster, I'm going to lose. I can't lose, I can't afford to lose, not so long as I have Yuugi counting on me. "My turn. Draw!" I look down at my card. Maha Vailo. Yes, with this, this duel will be over, and I'll have won. "First I summon Maha Vailo, and next I play the following cards: Mage Power, Elf's Light, Book of Secret Arts, and Luminous Spark." A brilliant flash of light surrounds Maha Vailo, and as it subsides, I can see that it's changed, not just a little bit, but entirely into Yuugi. I keep going, not wanting to slow down. "Thanks to Maha Vailo's effect, and all the cards I just played, his attack has increased to sixty-two hundred and fifty. All I have to do is attack your Fusilier, and I win." Sakharov seemed calm as she looked over Maha Vailo.

"You must think the world of him." She paused for a moment, and smiled. "As you've said, all you have to do is to declare your attack." She's counting on her Shadow Game to protect her, but it won't work. There's nothing she can do that'll make me surrender.

"Maha Vailo, atta…" The darkness came over me again, and it seemed to be much more eager then before. After a moment, the darkness fled as a brilliant light surrounded me. I had to bring my hand over my eyes to be able to see. The sun was brilliant as it hanged high in the sky, and as my eyes adjusted to the light, I heard a voice.

"Attention park patrons, the police have reported a bomb threat to the park. Please listen to the nearest police officer, and leave the park quickly and calmly through the nearest exits. Also, you can jump over the little fences." No. Not here, not now, anything but this.

"Anzu, we have to get out of here!" There we were, all of five feet from me, and I'm smiling, I'm actually smiling.

"This could be my chance to see the other Yuugi." For a moment, it felt I wasn't just remembering that thought. It was like I was actually thinking it. As the crowd came running by, the other me took the chance and ran against it, leaving Yuugi behind to wonder where I went. I found myself turning and following her, like I was being pulled by her. I kept trying to turn back, to try to find Yuugi, but my body wouldn't listen to me, only to her. After a while, the other me, started looking around for a good place to appear to be in danger, and that's when we saw the Ferris wheel, and we both knew.

"Stop! Don't go on there, there's a bomb on it! You don't have to do this; Yuugi's just fine as he is!" She couldn't hear me as she ran onto the wheel, leaping into the number three car and closing the window behind her. It was too fast for anyone to notice, and before long, the two of us were high in the air. It was actually a little dizzying being so high up, and I find myself sitting down. Shortly after that, we heard Yuugi calling out for us, and he was so scared, but all the other me could think about was this all according to the plan.

"Yuugi, I'm up here!" Yuugi looked up at her, and he was so afraid. The other me didn't even see it, all she could see was the hope that _he_ might come out. Then the detective started calling out to the crowd, asking if there was a gamer around.

"I'll do it!" He came, the other Yuugi, just like the other me knew that he would. Now all she had to do was to wait, wait for her hero to come and save her, and all I could do was watch. Damn it, get out of my head, I'm not that person anymore! We watch him for awhile, and we see him playing so earnestly, so clearly worried about her. That's when we heard it, the number four car exploding.

"Oh no, there was a bomb on that car! Save me, Yuugi." Of course there was a bomb on the Ferris wheel, where else would it be! And he wouldn't have to save you if you hadn't run off when you found out about the bombs! But you don't hear me, because you are me. The number eight car exploded next, and the other me started praying for the other Yuugi to rescue her. Seeing her, seeing me, acting like that, over him?

"Shut up, you…BITCH!" My fist passed right through the back of her head, and I started shivering. Was this, was this really how I was? I was. I was willing to use Yuugi, to take such horrible advantage of him, and I didn't hesitate at all. I didn't even think about it. The number two car exploded next, not that it mattered anymore. It wasn't too much longer after that that the other Yuugi won the game, and the wheel could safely move again.

"At last, now I can be with the Yuugi I want to be with." As the wheel moved, I realized that the memory wasn't stopping. Why didn't it stop? Why haven't I gone back to the real world? Unless…no, it can't be, please, it has to be done now. Now the car was level with the ground, and the door opened up as the police escorted her out, and I knew exactly the moment when the memory would come to an end. The other me started running for the other Yuugi, and it all seemed so slow, but it wasn't slow enough, it wasn't stopping.

"Please, don't. I don't want to see this, to feel this. Not again." I tried to grab her, to stand in her way, but I was nothing to her. I tried to turn away, but I couldn't move away. I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn't stop seeing. And that's when it happened.

"Hey Yuugi, let's get back to our date." And she wrapped her arms around his, and I could feel it all. His warmth, his courage, and above all, that dizzying happiness that I would never know again and only then did the illusion vanish, only then did my legs give out as I fell onto my knees. Sakharov stood over me, a cruel smile on her face.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Use him, and attack me." I looked up at the Yuugi that I'd summoned. Use him? Again? I can't do that. I just want to cry, but I can't. I don't have any tears; I don't even deserve them anymore. I know that now, I understand the dream I've been having for so long now, what my mind has been trying to tell me for so long.

"Anzu?" I turn my head, and Yuugi was looking at me, they were all looking at me. Why were they looking at me? I try to tell to stop looking, but my voice doesn't work, and I can't close my eyes, so I do the only thing I can do. I grab my head and curl up tight in the fetal position, so that even with my eyes open, I can't see them, I can't see anything, and I can't see _him_. I can feel the shadows crawling around me, eager to take me, and my only hope now is that when they do, that they unmake me, so that I would never have used Yuugi, never have hurt him, not even once. With any luck, this won't take long at all.


	8. Chapter 8

Kindness

Ever since Yuugi's been my best friend, I've seen lots of scary shit. Hell, I've been through some damn scary shit, but when Anzu looked at us after she fell to her knees, I realized that I didn't know a damn thing about what it was like to be really scared. Even worse was when I realized that she was looking right at Yuugi, and she was terrified of him, like she thought he was going to attack her or something. And just when she curled up tight, burying her head beneath her arms, Yuugi started crying, and I knew there wasn't a damn thing I could to make him feel better. This sort of thing was what Anzu was best at dealing with, but…

"You bitch! What the hell did you do to Anzu!?" I swear, if I hadn't been screaming at the top of my lungs, she would have just kept looking down at Anzu. As it was, she only just looked up at us, her expression impossible to read.

"Me? I didn't do anything to her." Honda beat me to the punch

"Like hell you didn't do anything to her! Fess up, what kind of Shadow Game were you using against Anzu?"

"Like I said, I didn't do anything to her. Whatever anguish she is suffering, is entirely the product of the darkness in her heart, of her inability to face her self."

"You're lying!" This was completely unlike Shizuka. I've never heard her so angry in my whole life. "I know Anzu, and there's no way that you're telling the truth!" Sakharov just shook her head.

"If you want to believe that I'm lying, that's your prerogative. Just remember, the brighter the light, the darker the shadow it casts, and this girl cast a brilliant light, the likes of which I've never before seen, before falling into that shadow." Damn it, I didn't if this was a Shadow Game, I didn't care what that bitch was going do to me, but I wasn't going to let her do this to Anzu and Yuugi!

"YAAAAAAAH!" As I charged at her, I was expecting her monsters to try and stop me, but I didn't expect that monster, the one that Anzu had summoned, to turn and face me. Even though it was still Maha Vailo, it looked just like Yuugi, except for the eyes. Those were an empty white, and drawn into an expression of pure rage. It was unnerving to see something look that much like Yuugi, yet have such a not-Yuugi expression. "Woah, calm down, I'm just trying to help. It's me, your best bud." The monster-Yuugi didn't say anything; he just drew his hands up and started gathering lightning into them. What the hell was going on? Why was Anzu's monster attacking me? Was this another effect of Sakharov's Shadow Game?

"Jounouchi! Get away from there!" Mai's voice broke me out of my stupor, and just in time too. I leapt back as the monster-Yuugi threw a bolt of lightning at where I was, and judging from the fact that it tore out something like half a cubic meter of stone, I definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of that. The monster-Yuugi kept glaring at me, or at least I think he did, as I made my way back to the others, at which point he returned to his battle position, like a normal duel-monster.

"Incredible. This is just incredible. I've never seen anyone so desperate to be taken by the darkness before. What I wouldn't give for the chance to find out what this girl saw. It really is a shame." Damn it, I wanted to slug that bitch. "I'm going to make a ruling; If Anzu doesn't get up and attack in the next five minutes, then she will have forfeited her match, and surrendered her soul to the darkness." Shit! Hell fuck damn it! Anzu was going to die right in front of us, and there wasn't anything we could do, and we don't even know why.

"Anzu." Yuugi's voice was so quiet, but not from timidity or shyness. Even though he was still crying, he held a determined look on his face as he made his way forward.

"Yuugi!" I don't think he could hear me, and when I tried to grab him, Bakura stopped me. "Bakura?"

"Yuugi…he's the only one who can save her. We just…have to wait for them to come back." Bakura sounded really sure of himself, but I looked at that crater, and I couldn't help being scared. But as Yuugi made his way to Anzu, the monster-Yuugi didn't respond at all. Yuugi…he just held her, like he was trying to, I don't know, fight the darkness in her or something, but Yuugi wasn't a fighter by any measure. Bakura was right though; all we could do, all I could do, was wait and hope.

* * *

"Anzu, where are you?" When I took hold of Anzu's body, I don't know what I thought was going to happen, but now I'm walking through a pitch-black void. At times it's too hot, at times it's too cold, and all around me I can hear a sound that I can't identify. Whatever it is, it makes me feel ill, like my skin is rotten and whatever I touch I'll destroy. I make my way through that sound and the darkness, because somewhere in all this darkness is Anzu. Suddenly a light appears above me, and the sickening sound is washed away, and the heat and the cold are washed away with it too. Now I can see where I am now. It looked like a dance studio, but all the mirrors were broken, and all the decorations were ruined. On the opposite wall were a set of pictures; The Statue of Liberty, her, me, and the other me, all broken beyond recognition, and crouching beneath them, looking even more miserable then the room, was Anzu.

"Anzu!" I ran to her as quickly as I could. "Anzu, please, please get up." I tried to help her up, but the moment I touched her, she shoved me away.

"Stay away from me. Don't let me use you!"

"What? What are you talking about?" Anzu put her hand out, and a Game Boy appeared in front of it.

"You…I could live a thousand lifetimes, live and die a thousand times, and not once could I ever know anyone as preciously kind as you. You were like a gift to me, the way you just walked into my life, and look at what I did with your kindness." The Game Boy broke down and crumbled apart into pieces too small to see. "I stomped all over it, because it wasn't good enough for me."

"Anzu, that's not true. You just got frustrated because the game was too hard, and besides, the next day you saved me from Matsui, and that's way more important then some game." She just shook her head, and I could see that she desperately wanted to cry.

"But that's just it. It wasn't about you; it was all about me, what I wanted." Suddenly I could hear horses and the clanging of metal on metal. "I used to dream that I was a knight, rescuing the fair maiden from peril, and I just used you as a convenient way to live out that fantasy. I thought you were so small, and weak, and fragile, that you needed me to protect you, but I had it all wrong. When it got too hard to protect you all the time, I tried to pull away from you, and that's when the truth came out." She paused; like she was making sure what she said next would come out right.

"I was the one who needed you. You were always strong enough to handle anything that came your way, but without you, I was miserable, even if I didn't understand why. It's because without you, all my dreams were hollow and empty. Without you, I couldn't believe in myself. So I came back to you, and I tried to act like a good friend, I tried to stop using you, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't change what I was, what I really am."

"Anzu, you're a good person. You're strong, and caring, and you always believed in me."

"You don't know me. We've been friends for almost ten years now, and you still don't know the first thing about me. You always see the best in everyone, but the truth is, is that there's nothing good about me. I'm just a stupid, selfish, bitch. I probably could have kept pretending that I was the wonderful person you thought I was forever, but then, the other you came into our lives." Everything became pitch black as a voice called out, smooth and confident.

"Let's play a game." A flash of fire, and then everything is back to the way it was. We're both silent now. Finally, she raised her head and looked at me.

"I loved him. Without reservation, I fell in love with him instantly, and from that moment on, I would do anything to get him to love me. Anything." A Ferris wheel appeared in the shards of the mirror above her. "I was going to degrade myself, turn myself into exactly the sort of girl that I despised, a simpering damsel who couldn't do anything but wait for her hero to come and rescue her, just for a chance to see him." She curled back up into herself.

"I would have thrown you away forever, just for a moment with him. I don't deserve you. I don't deserve your friendship, your kindness, your adoration, your love, any of it. Please, just forget about me. Forget that I ever was, so that when the darkness takes me, you won't be sad. Even if I don't exist, I can't stand the thought of making you sad."

For a long time we're silent as I weigh her despair in my heart. She was right about one thing; I do see the best in everyone, and even now, in spite of everything she's said, to me she's still the strong, beautiful, caring girl who became friends with a shy little boy who didn't have anything to offer but a few games and his kindness. Even now, with the room of her soul lying in ruins, I can see it as it should be, shining in the light, reflecting her dreams and her pride. Heh, it's just like my riddle. That's it, isn't it? That's what I need to save her.

"Anzu, do you remember the riddle I told you, when you first found out about the Millennium Puzzle? What's something you can show, but you can't see? I have a new riddle for you, for us. What's something you can see, but you can't show?" She brought her head up, and she looked at me.

"I…that doesn't make sense; how can you not show something that you can see?"

"Anzu, you keep telling me that I'm too kind and wonderful, that you don't deserve me, but the truth is, is that I don't see the me that you see, just like you don't see the you that I see. It works both ways; we show ourselves, but we don't see ourselves. We see each other, but we can't show each other what we see. When I look at you, I see someone who is strong because her friends are there for her, and she's always there for them. When I first saw you, I saw a girl who was like me, lonely and looking for a friend. Even though you were one of those popular girls, the ones that everyone admired, I could see that you weren't happy, and I wanted to be the one who could make you happy, and be your friend."

"…I want to believe you, but I just can't. I've done such horrible things to you, and no matter what I do, I can't stop seeing them, I can't ever forget those days, not anymore." I have to tell her. I have to tell her the truth. She has to know what she means to me.

"You know that I made a wish on the puzzle when I first solved it, but I kept it secret from you, because I didn't want to have to explain it. Anzu, I didn't just wish for friends, I wished that I could be a friend."

"…What?" I could barely hear her, but her voice wasn't so sad anymore, so I know I'm on the right path.

"You've been protecting me, looking out for me, and supporting me for as long as I've known you, but in all that time, I can't remember ever being there for you. I'd thought that maybe if I was stronger, that you'd be able to see me, the way I see you. That's what I was really wishing for all along, that you would have the kind of friend that you deserved; someone strong and brave, who could help you when you were in trouble, and above all, someone who deserved your love."

"Yuugi…"

"Anzu, you keep saying that I've always been strong, but I've only ever been strong because of you. Without you, I'd never be able to stand up for my friends, and I'd have never made my wish come true. I'd never have become friends with Jounouchi, I'd never have met the other me. Without you, I could never be who I am today." The shards of the mirrors around us each began to reflect an image of their own, showing each and every time Anzu had stood up for me, when I was still too afraid to stand up for myself, and in the shard closest to us, was that moonlit night at Duelist Kingdom, when she said those words to me.

"Yuugi, you're just fine the way you are." She was finally crying now, and in the next moment I found myself wrapped in her arms. The mirrors began fixing themselves, and the room filled with light as the decorations and pictures became clean and whole again. I wrapped my arms around her; I wanted to share in the warmth that she was giving me.

"I'm, I'm glad that you're okay now." Her tears are falling on my head, but that's okay. It actually feels pretty good.

"Thank you, Yuugi, for everything." For a while we just stand there, and then she started moving in place, leading me like we were…dancing?

"Anzu?" She pulled back from the bear-hug that she had me in, and smiled at me.

"You said that you wanted to be there for me, right? Well, why don't you start with being my dance partner?" Partner. That's what the other me used to call me. It feels…different, hearing Anzu say that word, but that's okay. I like this, and I know she does too, because the room of her soul is getting so bright, that all I can see is her, and all she can see is me.

* * *

I wake up, and now I'm back in the real world, with Yuugi's arms still wrapped around me, and he looks half-asleep. I can't help feeling that he looks so adorable like that, and that was when I noticed that that Sakharov woman was looking down at us, and her eyes were wide open in shock.

"Incredible, simply incredible. You actually broke through the darkness, back into the light. This has never happened before. How did you do it?" There was an eager, childlike curiosity in her voice, like she was truly astonished.

"Yuugi! Anzu!" Everyone was running up to us now, and they were so happy to see that we were okay. I guess I must have given them all quite the scare. Yuugi must have been really scared and confused, but he didn't show it, and he knew just what to do. Maybe he doesn't look it, but he really is the bravest and strongest person I've ever known.

"Yuugi, it's time to get up." He opens his eyes, and I help him up, and before long we're all standing together, strong and proud. "Sakharov, you've lost this game. You thought that you could use my fears and doubts to destroy me, but so long as I have Yuugi that will never happen!" Sakharov put her chin in her hand, and started nodding.

"I see, I see. Yes, of course. No one person can face the darkness in their heart; you need the help of someone precious to you, and you must be precious to that someone. Yes, that's what I've been missing." She became somber as she spoke that last sentence, like she'd put on an entirely new face. That's when I remembered, she'd only attacked twice in the whole duel.

"Sakharov, what did the shadows show you?" She closed her eyes, yet she still looked at me.

"After what I put you through, you don't hate me?" I closed my eyes, so that I could see that same darkness that she was seeing.

"For a long time, I've been hiding from myself, lying to myself, in order to avoid a painful truth about the sort of person that I am. While it did hurt to have to face those memories of mine, I'm ready now to go beyond those memories, and truly be the person that I thought I was. That's why I can't hate you, because I'm done hating myself."

"Hmm, Master Dopol was right. You truly are a brilliant speechmaker. If dancing doesn't work out for you, you should consider becoming a motivational speaker. Here, catch." She bounced her Millennium Item in her hand a couple of times before lobbing it to me. "Now that I've found the answer I've been looking for, I don't need that thing anymore. I trust that the rest of you have the Millennium Items that my associates had?" I opened my eyes in time to see Bakura, Jounouchi, Mai, and Yuugi hold theirs up. Sakharov opened her eyes to confirm what there was to see before closing them again. "That's good. Paracelsus' is right there, and Seto should have Ryong's with him, which means that they're all accounted for. Is there anything else I can tell you?" This couldn't still be the same woman that I dueled, could it? That woman was distant, detached from what she was doing, but this woman was engaging us, trying to offer us help. Why?

"Who are you?" She shrugged.

"Me? I'm just a woman. Someone who's made mistakes that I've had to live with my whole life. One day, Master Dopol called me down into her room, and she showed me what I later found out was the first Millennium Item she had created. She demonstrated its power on me; she held back just enough to avoid breaking me, and told me that if I wanted to find my way back into the light, that I would have to drown people in the darkness within their hearts. And so I began my search, for someone in this world who could overcome the darkness in their heart." And then she did something new. She smiled, and it looked so natural. "Thank you, Yuugi and Anzu. I'm sorry for what I've done, but now I can make amends."

Suddenly the ground began to shake, the wind whipped around us, and there was _something _crawling over our skins. "What the hell's going on now?" Otogi yelled at Sakharov.

"The shadows have become restless." She pointed at me. "Unless we resume the game, the shadows will think that we've been toying with them." Did that mean that I was going to have to take her soul? After everything that's happened, that's how this was going to end? "Don't worry though; I won't use you to fix my mistake." What? Now she was laying herself on her back, next to Paracelsus. "I wish you all the best of luck when you face Dopol." With that, she brought her hand down on her deck, signaling her surrender. The Eternal Mausoleum vanished, bringing us all back to the Kame game shop, and the shadows, thick and fat, rushed back into the item that Sakharov gave to me, and I knew that her soul was trapped in it, along with all the others that she'd faced. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I instantly recognized it. Yuugi.


	9. Chapter 9

A Not Entirely Peaceful Trip

I have to say, of all the limousines that I've been in, Kaiba's is the best. Spacious, comfortable, and more then enough refreshments for everyone; Kaiba might not appreciate the quality of his standard of living, but for the time being, I will.

"Hey Mai, just because you're the only one who can legally drink doesn't mean you can hog it all." Jounouchi had a glass out, holding it next to the bottle. "Come on, share with the rest of us." I smiled at him, finished off my glass, and put the bottle away.

"I'm sorry, but while your appearance and accomplishments would disagree, you're still a minor, and I will not be party to corrupting the youth." Shizuka joined my side against Jounouchi.

"Yeah big brother, you don't want to get Miss Mai in trouble, do you?" Now surrounded on both sides, Jounouchi moaned for a moment before turning to Yuugi.

"Come on pal, help me out here. After everything we've all been through, we deserve a break." But Yuugi just shook his head.

"No, I don't think we should make trouble for Miss Mai. Besides, I don't even like wine anyway." That Yuugi, always such a sweetie; I guess I'll have to show him that I'm still in charge, and it's up to me to decide whether I get in trouble or not.

"Now Yuugi, how can you say you don't like wine until you've had some?" I brought the bottle back out and poured a fresh glass, but only just a bit. "Go ahead, take a sip, and then see what you have to say." I tried to give the glass to Yuugi, but I couldn't even get that far before Anzu took it from me.

"I'm sorry Miss Mai, but that really isn't a good idea. One taste is enough for one lifetime." Well this was unexpected, a sentiment that the rest of Yuugi's friends seemed to share.

"Yuugi." Honda spoke with a mix of admiration and confusion. "When did you ever drink wine?" Yuugi laughed a bit, and then he looked at Anzu. They didn't say anything, but I got the impression that they decided that it would be okay to tell this story.

"Well, it was six years ago, on New Years Day. Grandpa had invited Anzu and her parents over, to get to know them better he said. While Anzu's parents were talking to my Mom and Grandpa, I ended up showing Anzu where everything was. When I opened up the linen closet, Anzu's eyes got really big and she suddenly got up on her toes and reached just above the highest towel and grabbed a bottle of wine. Later I found out that Grandpa had put it there for when my father got home, but his flight was delayed and he didn't get home for three more days. Anyway, Anzu grabbed my arm and had me take her up to my room, and when we got there, she told me that if I drank some of the wine that I would get braver." Anzu tried not to draw attention to it, but her face was getting really red.

"Don't feel so embarrassed Anzu; I think it's sweet that you wanted to toughen up your man." Anzu immediately became flustered, a rare but genuinely amusing sight.

"No, that's not what I was doing at all. I just…oh never mind; Yuugi, finish telling the story, would you?" It was only for a moment, and it was very faint, but Yuugi blushed. I'm sure of that.

"Sure thing Anzu; suffice to say, I was really excited at the idea of being braver, so I grabbed the bottle and started drinking as much as I could. Well, I tried to anyway. The moment I swallowed some, I started hacking and coughing, and when Anzu tried to help, I puked all over her new dress. Grandpa and Anzu's dad rushed me to the hospital while my mom and Anzu's mom helped Anzu get changed. And that would be the story of why I don't like wine." Wow. That would have definitely written me off wine forever. I'm glad nothing like that ever happened to me, especially since this was some damn good wine. Not wanting to see that second glass go to waste, I took it back from Anzu and drank it down.

"Dude, how is it that I'm your best friend and I'm only hearing this story for the first time?" Everyone started laughing, until we heard the limo driver speaking through the intercom.

"I thought that I'd let you all know that the two duelists who were at the Kame game store have just been picked up and are being taken to Kaiba Corp's medical facilities. That is all." Right. That. In all the luxury, we'd almost managed to forget where we were going and why.

"Actually, that reminds me, I've got a lot of other things to tell you all; important things that I found out from Isis." Ah yes, that Egyptian woman who organized Battle City alongside Kaiba, and whose brother tried to kill us all. She's sure to have had some interesting information to impart to Yuugi.

* * *

Between my duel with Dr. Kaetsu, Anzu's duel with Sakharov, and the rush we went through to get our stuff together for when Kaiba's limo arrived, and then Mai offered me that wine, but now there was nothing to do for now but to tell everyone what I'd found out.

"First of all, all the old Millennium Items are still gone. The site of the Ceremonial Battle hasn't been disturbed, and the door is still closed, so we don't have to worry about any ancient spirits running amok, hiding behind the scenes or anything like that." Jounouchi almost said something, but he bit his tongue. I knew, we all knew, what he was going to ask, but words couldn't be enough for that question, and he realized that. I sighed, and resumed.

"Second, according to Isis's records, when Bakura's father had discovered Akhenaden's tomb, there was another body at the tomb, and there was evidence that something had been stolen. According to Carbon Dating that had been performed on the body, the theft would have taken place around three hundred years ago. That fits in with what Dr. Kaetsu told me, about Dopol's family being in possession of the Millennium Tome for hundreds of years." At once, whatever warmth there was in the limo was gone now, a shadow of a shadow if it ever was real.

"Wait." Bakura spoke slowly, carefully. "You, you don't really mean that Dopol has been cutting people up and performing Shadow Alchemy on their remains, do you?" It was times like this that reminded me that as unique and nuanced as my relationship with my other self was, Bakura's relationship with the other Bakura was just as complex. I could only imagine the things he learned from the other Bakura, and I didn't care to do that for very long.

"That's just it though. For some reason, Dopol's Millennium Items didn't come out right. They can be used to start Shadow Games and steal souls, but that seems to be it. They don't have any of the other powers of the original Millennium Items, and I can't imagine that if her family had the Millennium Tome for so long that they wouldn't be able to…" I started gesturing, hoping that I could convey the idea without actually saying it.

"Don't worry Yuugi; I think we get the picture." Otogi shuddered as he spoke. "When Jounouchi was dueling with Prometheus, she said something about how Dopol had tasked her with gathering souls for her, and how she'd been specifically sent after him. What I'm wondering is whether or not the Millennium Tome had more then one ritual to it." He paused as we all looked at him. I guess he was more used to getting attention from his appearance and not from amateur theorizing on the occult. "Because if she were using a different ritual from the one that that Akhenaden guy used, something that maybe didn't involve the bodies so much as the souls, then that could account for why these items are different." That…that could be it. I hope so, because then maybe we could save everyone.

"Thank you Otogi. Now, the third thing that Isis told me; according to her research, if these new Millennium Items were to become…complete, then Dopol would be able to fulfill the Contract of Darkness. But if we bring the items with us, and challenge her, then we can release all the souls that are trapped in them. I know that I'm asking a lot from everyone, but please, stay with me, no matter what happens." Everyone is quiet for a moment, and then Anzu put her right hand out in front of me. Jounouchi and Honda followed her lead, and I brought it together, the sign of our friendship.

"Do you really think that after everything we've all been through that you'd have to ask for our help? Come on man, you know us better then that." Thank you, Jounouchi. You too, Anzu. Then the driver's voice came in over the intercom.

"We will be arriving at the Kaiba Corporation's main building in just a few minutes. If you are availing your self to the amenities, I'd recommend clearing your plates and drinks so that you don't keep Mr. Kaiba waiting when we arrive. That is all."

So, we're almost there now. Everyone finished off what they could just in time for the limo to park and the doors to open. When we got out, we saw an absolutely huge helicopter, and standing in front of it, were Seto and Mokuba. Seto spoke to us, curtly.

"Hello Yuugi. Everyone." Then he looked at Jounouchi. "Mediocre Duelist."

"GYAAAH! Seto, can you stop being such a bastard for five minutes!?" Seto smirked at Jounouchi.

"Can I help if you jump every time I tell you to?" Then, to the rest of us; "Get on board, we don't have time to waste. Mokuba will fill you in once we get in the air." Just before Seto turned away and walked on board the helicopter, he glanced at Anzu. Just like that. Anzu then addressed Mokuba.

"What was that all about? Since when does Seto pay attention to anyone who isn't you or Yuugi?"

"I know he didn't act like it, but Big Brother is actually relieved that you're all okay. The satellite readouts kept showing weird stuff happening in your duels, and he was kind of confused when you kept hesitating on that last attack." Mokuba walked up to Anzu as he spoke, and as he did, I became keenly aware that in the six months since we'd seen him last, Mokuba had undergone a growth spurt, and now even he was taller then me. Nothing worth getting worked up about, but it made those three centimeters I gained over the past six months even less notable then it already was, what with Anzu growing three centimeters in the same period of time.

"Seto, worried? About us? That is by far the least likely thing to have ever happened to us, and I'm including the time our souls were trapped in lead miniatures. No offense Bakura." Bakura smiled back at Honda.

"None taken." We heard the engine start up, and though it was unlikely that Seto was going to leave without us, none of us wanted to take that chance. And with that, we were up in the air, to wherever it was that Dopol was.

* * *

I don't care what Big Brother says, Yuugi and his friends are alright, and I know he knows it too. I don't expect him to ever really show it, but it'll have to be enough that he does care, in his own way.

"All right Mokuba, spill it; where is your brother taking us?" Jounouchi glared at me, still sour from Big Brother's latest ribbing. Should I go ahead and tell them now, or should I dangle the information like bait? Nah, as much fun as it would be to play around with Jounouchi, this was serious business.

"Well Jounouchi, I think it will be easier if I show you all." I bring out my remote and push the button, activating the screen on the wall and showing everyone our destination, and they all looked like they were seeing a ghost.

"No way!" That was Mai. "Pegasus' Island? But I thought that he was dead." Bakura looked a little uncomfortable at that declaration.

"He is dead. The autopsy report was clear on that, but Industrial Illusions didn't die with him. Of course, without an obvious heir, and the fact that his personal charisma was the driving force of his company, it was quickly bought out." I pressed the button again, exchanging the map of Pegasus' Island with a picture of the old woman who'd been sending her duelists after us.

"This is Dopol? So she really is an old woman. Damn, I was kind of hoping she'd be more…you know. Like Mai, or Shizuka." Otogi gave a quick glance at the two women he just mentioned, which earned a small amount of ire from Jounouchi and Honda, while eliciting amusement from Mai and confusion from Shizuka.

"Yes, this is Dopol, although her real name is Midori Tsukasa, age 76. After buying out the company, her and her seven children moved to the island, and according to our records, there have been a _lot_ of people making trips to and from the island over the past six months; that is to say, just after Battle City came to an end." Yuugi mulled over that for just a moment.

"That's how she did it. That's how she was able to make that card, how she reached everyone that she did, and…how she…obtained the sacrifices…" Seven children, seven Millennium Items; it wasn't a hard jump to make, but Yuugi seemed like he was going to freeze up to avoid making that leap. But Anzu put her hand down on his, and they looked each other in the eye. Then he sighed, and turned back to me.

"I'm sorry Mokuba. You've told us something very helpful, and I'm thankful for that."

I nodded, but Jounouchi didn't seem satisfied.

"I don't like this. How do we know that Pegasus really did die?" He looked over at Bakura, "I know that the spirit of the ring took his Millennium Eye, but how do we know he didn't survive somehow and is really calling the shots behind all this again?" Before Bakura had a chance to say anything, I shook my head.

"Big Brother thought that one of you, most likely you Jounouchi, would suspect that, so he had me make sure that I had Pegasus' autopsy report on hand so that I could banish those doubts." I pressed the button once again, changing the image to the report. "You can read it for yourself, but to summarize, after the Millennium Eye was removed, his brain was crushed from the inside out. Finger prints, dental records, and DNA all confirm that it was Pegasus' body and not a replica." Jounouchi grimaced as he responded.

"Okay, okay. I get it, he really is dead. It was just a theory, no need to get all gory and macabre about it." Bakura was deliberately looking away from the document, while Anzu, Mai, and Shizuka were examining it closely.

"According to this," Anzu said, "Although charges were never filed, the bulk of the suspicion fell on the Big Five, the former members of Kaiba Corp's board of directors, with the remaining suspicion falling on Keith 'Bandit' Howard, who was discovered to be the victim of an apparent suicide."

"However," Mai continued, "As there was no evidence at the scene of the crime to identify the killer, there was no choice but to let the Big Five off. Additionally, while Bandit Keith seemed to be the most obvious choice for his murder, the lack of any gun on his possession points to his apparent suicide being faked in order to conceal the real murderer."

Shizuka finished off the last part. "While efforts were made to question Seto Kaiba, whose little brother had been abducted by Pegasus and the Big Five, as well as the other participants in the Duelist Kingdom tournament, all efforts were stymied by Seto Kaiba, and so the investigation was sent to the Cold Case files, pending the discovery of new evidence." Everyone was quiet as they absorbed the information, which meant that my job was just about over with.

"I have more files, covering information on Dopol's Shadow Duelists, if you want to look at them. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch my favorite imported American cartoons."

* * *

Almost time. They're almost here. For three hundred years my family has been deciphering this cursed book, and now it will all be worth it. Grandmother, I will not disappoint you.


	10. Chapter 10

The Moonlit Night

"Man, I can't believe we're finally here. So this is Pegasus' Island? Looks…pretty barren to be honest." Mr. Otogi did have a point. I know Big Brother talked a lot about how he wanted to show me places like this after my sight was restored, but all the dead trees and dead grass were really unpleasant to look at.

"I know what you mean. What the hell happened to this place? Did all the rituals that Dopol was doing suck the land dry?" Mr. Seto scoffed at my brother's theory.

"Hardly. If you were to have paid any attention, you would have realized that this island was thoroughly terra-formed by Pegasus for his tournament. It's hardly surprising that Dopol didn't bother with keeping up the illusion of his kingdom. Except for the castle, of course, since she actually lives there now." Pegasus' castle, it's like something out of a fairy tale; the eccentric lord who lived all alone, grieving the loss of his beloved. Looking at it, I can imagine how everything must have been when he was still alive. The beautiful forest, the shining lake, and the mountains that seemed like they would stand forever, I could see them all in my mind; but that wasn't the sight that assailed me now, as even the mountains seemed diminished somehow.

"Whatever Kaiba, let's just get up there and show that bitch who's boss." It almost seemed like Mr. Seto might actually agree with my brother, but then Mokuba grabbed Mr. Seto's arm.

"Sorry everyone, but Seto's going to have to call it a night; he's been up for thirty-seven hours straight now, and he needs his sleep." For a moment I thought that Mr. Seto was going to argue with his brother, but he just closed his eyes and nodded as Mokuba led him back onto the helicopter. It was kind of sweet, seeing Mr. Seto act like that around his brother. It made me think that maybe he wasn't all bad the way my brother said he was.

"That's fine, we don't need Kaiba; the rest of us are more then enough to take care of this." Yuugi looked at Anzu for a moment before shyly coughing, which was enough to draw my brother's attention.

"Actually, there's some stuff I wanted to talk about with Anzu before we left." Big Brother seemed exasperated and unsure what to do now.

"But Dopol's just right there." He said as he pointed at the castle. "Can't this wait until afterwards?" Anzu didn't have to say anything; she just looked Big Brother in the eye, and he backed off. "Fine. If you want to wait until morning, then we can wait until morning. I'm just so fired up, and we've been cooped up in limos and copters, so I gotta do something." Then Miss Mai walked up behind my brother and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Actually, this is just as well. There are some things that I've been meaning to talk with you about. Things that can't be properly conveyed in email." She winked at Big Brother, and for a moment I thought that he was going to faint, but then he tried to act all cool.

"Well Mai, if you insist, I think I can spare some time." Miss Mai clasped her hands together and cheered a little.

"Ah, you're a real dear Jounouchi." Then to me, "Come along Shizuka, this concerns you too." Miss Mai wants to talk to me? This is so exciting!

"Shizuka too? I thought…never mind. Come on sis, let's find out what Mai has to say to us." Big Brother seemed a little deflated, but I'm sure he'll get over it. I mean, if he really thought that Miss Mai wanted to discuss _that_ with him, then he deserves to get his ego deflated a little. Mai led us into the woods until we came upon an old Battle Box. Big Brother told me about how they were used to create holograms, but there were cracks all along the walls and ceiling of the battle box, so it probably didn't work. Mai turned around and addressed us both.

"Shizuka, I want you to pay very close attention to what is about to happen. Jounouchi, we're going to have a rematch. We don't have time for a full duel, so this is going to be a sudden death match; the first to destroy all his opponent's monsters, wins. How about it Jounouchi? You've beaten me once before, now let's see if you can do it again." This is…this is amazing! My Brother's told me all about his first duel with Mai, and now I can see it for myself.

"Mai…All right I accept. I assume that you want to use this old hunk of junk for our duel, right?" Miss Mai nodded.

"Yep, this way it'll be just like old times." The two of them, Big Brother and Miss Mai, walked into the Battle Box, shuffled and cut their decks, and then I could see it. There was an aura of battle around each of them, and neither was going to give any ground. Mai called out to Jounochi, "Ladies first!" She drew her card and reviewed her hand.

"First I summon Harpy Lady One, and next I activate Elegant Egotist to special summon Harpy Lady Sisters. Finally, I set one card, and end my turn" Even though the holograms didn't work anymore, in my mind I could see Mai surrounded by beautiful, yet powerful warriors. As my brother drew his card, he looked impressed.

"Two monsters in your first turn, not bad. Unfortunately, that's going to work against you now; I special summon the Fiend Megacyber, and next I normal summon the Red-Eyes Black Chick, which I sacrifice to special summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand." I want to cheer for my brother, but I also want to cheer for Miss Mai. Maybe they can destroy each other's monsters at the same time? "I'm sorry Mai, but your Harpies are history. Red-Eyes Black Dragon attacks Harpy Lady Sisters, while The Fiend Megacyber attacks Harpy Lady One!" Miss Mai smiled right back at my brother.

"Very good Jounouchi, that's much better then the rash boy who only had the dream of helping his sister to keep him going against all odds. Unfortunately, you haven't won yet. While Cyber Harpie Lady is destroyed, I activate Triangle Ecstasy Spark, which raises Harpie Lady Sisters attack power by 750 points for one turn, so goodbye Fiend Megacyber." My Brother chuckled.

"Look who's talking, Miss 'I used to scent my cards to make my opponents think I'm psychic'. You've really changed since then too." The two of them were quiet for a moment. "Well, I've no choice but to set a card, and end my turn." Mai drew her next card, and smiled.

"Sorry Jounouchi, you don't get to win this time. It doesn't matter what card you just set, because I'm summoning Harpie Lady One, and she raises the attack of all Wind monsters on the field by three-hundred points. Furthermore, thanks to Harpies' Hunting Ground, I get to destroy the card that you just set." Big Brother picked up the card that Miss Mai just destroyed.

"Good thing you did that, otherwise you would have lost; Metalmorph is quite the nasty little number. You want to do the honor and finish this duel off?" Miss Mai smiled back at him.

"My pleasure; my Harpie Lady Sisters attack your Red-Eyes Black Dragon." And just like that, the duel was over almost as soon as it began. "That gives us each one win against each other." Then they got up, and came out of the Battle Box. "And that, my dear Shizuka, is why you can just ignore any man who thinks that being a woman makes you weak." Miss Mai did a quick stretch before resuming. "I've told you this before Shizuka, but you're brother really is a great guy. I don't know if he told you this, but this is where he turned my life around." Big Brother seemed confused for a moment, and then it hit him.

"Ah, that's right! This is where the Player Killer of Darkness took your star chips."

"Yeah, that wasn't one of my prouder moments. But still, you really came through for me. I was ready to give up everything, but you wouldn't let me." A pregnant pause falls between them now.

"So Mai, I was thinking. If we get through this okay, and rescue everyone, where are you going to go?" Miss Mai stopped to think.

"You know, I've still got a goodly amount of money left over from my winnings in China; I think I'll get an apartment in Domino. Now don't get too excited Jounouchi, I'm not going to need a roommate for quite a while, and even if I did, I have plenty of options before asking you." That's when my brother started to pout.

"I wasn't thinking that. Do you think I'm some kind of perv' or something?" He so totally was; it was all over his face. I wasn't too sure of it back in Battle City, since there were hardly any quiet moments then, and emotions were running so high that it was hard to say how anyone really felt about anything. But now? Now that we're on this island, so close to danger yet so far from everything else, I'm certain that my brother has a crush on Miss Mai. Not that I can blame him, since she does look like a model, but after watching that duel, I can tell that there's so much more to my Brother's feelings for her, and I can't help but wonder if that was what Miss Mai wanted me to see.

"As much as I'd like to answer that, we are in the company of your sweet little sister, and I think we should pull back before going too far." My brother scoffed.

"You're the one who started it." And then Miss Mai laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. In all seriousness, you two are always welcome to come over whenever you want to. I just wanted you both to know that if either of you ever need my help, I'll be available. You've both done a lot for me, so I'm ready to repay the favor." She smiled at us, and she seemed just as beautiful as she was when she was dueling.

"But…I don't understand. I know all about what my Brother did for you, but I hardly did anything; all I ever did was watch." Miss Mai put her hands on my shoulders.

"Shizuka, just being there for someone can be more important then winning all the duels in the world, a lesson your brother and I've learned the hard way. That said, I hope you get your chance to rescue your brother; if anyone deserves to save that knucklehead, it's you."

"Knucklehead am I? Why don't you take your hands off my sister so we can do this thing properly; unless you think that that victory of yours just now was a fluke?" And like that, Miss Mai took her hands off of me, and before long the two of them were fighting like an old married couple. Nothing like my mother and father though; there was nothing but spite and anger to them. Maybe it would be too good to be true, but I hope that things work out for the two of them, and if the full moonlight shining down on them is an omen, maybe it will.

* * *

Don't worry dear Sister, I just have to help my friends for a little while, and then I can write you my final letter, and bring it to your shrine. Just wait for me a little longer. And Akai Chono…I…

"So this is where you went off to Bakura." Honda and Otogi!? What are they doing here? "You just disappeared on us after the others left. You feeling okay?" I don't know what to say, Honda. I know that you want to trust me, and for me to trust you, but can I really tell you the truth?

"I didn't expect you guys to follow me. Wouldn't you rather spend time with Shizuka?" Otogi shook his head.

"Right now she's with Mai and Jounouchi, and Mai made it pretty clear that what was going to happen between them concerned only them. Between Yuugi and Anzu heading off towards the cliff face, and Mokuba putting Seto to bed, that just leaves us to talk amongst ourselves. If you don't mind, that is." You know what? That does sound like a good idea.

"All right, I'm game. To be honest, I'm a little worried about what's going to happen to Akai Chono, and I don't know if I'll be able to help her." Honda and Otogi looked at each other.

"Akai? Do you mean that girl who disguised herself as your sister? No offense, but why do you care what happens to her? Not to be repetitive, but she dressed up like your sister and tried to kill you. I'm not seeing much grounds for sympathy here." I sighed.

"This is going to take a while to explain, and I'm not even sure that I should try. I've been keeping a lot of secrets from you guys and if I tell you what I did, you'd probably think that I was a sick bastard, just like how Akai felt about me." Otogi and Honda looked at me for a moment before delivering simultaneous jabs into my arms.

"Dude," Honda grabbed my shoulder, "We've all done things we regret."

"That's right, so don't feel like you've got to hold back around us." Otogi flicked his hair out of his eyes, and I knew that I could trust him.

"All right, bear with me guys, because I've got a lot of ground to cover, and this is the first time I've ever told anyone about this." And that's just what I did. I told them about Amane, how her death affected me, everything. As I spoke, I kept looking for the sure signs of revulsion in their faces, but while they were surprised at what I told them about myself, they stayed, and listened. Finally, I finished describing my duel with Akai, how Amane's spirit came and saved me, and we were quiet for awhile.

"Damn." Otogi started laughing. Bitterly. "And I thought that my home life was messed up. Shit, I don't even know how to respond to that. My father, he would keep telling me that I was born to fulfill his revenge. He wasn't being metaphorical either; I was conceived through In Vitro Fertilization, and once I was born he saw to it that I never saw the woman who carried me. Hell, it wasn't until I was about six or so that I realized that it wasn't normal to not have a mother around. Now? Sometimes I think about trying to track her down, but what good would that do? She was probably in desperate straits if she was carrying my father's child, and I doubt that she'd care to see the fruits of her labor." That…was unexpected. I never met Otogi's father, since it was the other Bakura who went to the Black Crown store, but what I had heard about him hadn't prepared me for that.

"Yeesh, I know we said that we weren't going to hold back, but I didn't think that you guys were going to make a competition out of 'who had the more messed up past'. I'm going to have to sit this one out though. My mother and father are perfectly normal, and though my sister is a bit more brash than would be considered traditional, she's happy, healthy, and even has a kid. He's a bit of a perverted freak, but even that's been mellowing out lately. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that even though I used to be little more then a bully, it wasn't because of anything special; I was just angry, and didn't think that I would ever amount to anything. Of course, Yuugi turned me around, just like he did with all of us." Suddenly, inspiration seemed to strike Honda, and he reached for his pockets, and then smacked himself on his forehead. "It figures."

"What does?" I couldn't help being curious.

"Well, I was thinking about doing the friendship circle for us, but idiot that I am I don't have a marker on me." Otogi raised an eyebrow.

"Friendship circle? You want to clue us in Honda?"

"Right, of course. Long story short, Anzu had us make a pact in the middle of Death-T, and she signed it off by drawing a smiley face across the backs of our hands. I know it sounds lame, but crazy as it sounds, that symbol saved our lives. I was hoping to do that for us, to let you two know that who you were, where you came from, or what you did isn't important; the only thing that matters is that here and now, we're all friends." I giggled a bit.

"Sorry about that Honda, but that sounds like the sort of thing that Anzu would say. I really appreciate what you're trying to do though, and I'm sure that Amane will be happy to hear that you're okay with me." We stood there for a while, and then we all looked up at the moon. Even with it being full, it seemed huge and it loomed over the island. It probably won't be easy, but I think Akai will be able to forgive me after all.

* * *

Here we are again, back on Pegasus' island. And not just on his island; we're at the exact spot where I told Yuugi that it didn't matter which side he was, for he was always Yuugi. Of course, fool that I was, it wasn't until afterwards that we learned that the truth was more complicated then that. But there's no use dwelling on the past, because right now we're alone together, and we're finally ready to really talk.

"Anzu." He looked at me, and even though his eyes were full of confidence, they were still his eyes, not harsh and cocky like the other Yuugi's eyes. "I know that things have been really hard for the both of us lately, and especially today, but I want you to know that I meant every word I said in your soul room; I really can't say just how lucky I was that you were willing to give the time of day all those years ago, and you've given me so much more since then. I don't want to try and force you to accept anything that you don't want to, but I'd really like a chance to be with you. I don't know that I can be everything you want, everything you need, everything you deserve, but if you let me, I will give you my all. You can count on that."

Looking at him, I thought back to that day when we first met, of how much he'd changed from the scared shy little boy he used to be, and even though he's so much braver now than he was then, so much more confident, he still has that same unyielding kindness that even the other Yuugi recognized as the greatest strength of all. "Yuugi, you really are just fine the way you are. I know that when I said that before, when we both thought that the other you really was just that, another side of yourself that the puzzle brought out, and when I first realized that that might not have been the case, I felt horrible. Not just because he would have to leave us one day, but because I was worried that I didn't really feel what I thought I felt for you, that it all might have been for him, and I couldn't stand the thought that I'd been using you again."

"I…" I put my finger in front of his mouth, cutting him off.

"But I do know now. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to realize it, but I do love you, for who _you_ are and nobody else." He was blushing so much now, and so was I. I couldn't believe that I said it, just like that. Then again, if offering to dance with someone in your soul room doesn't say how you feel about them, then I don't know what does. We look at each other for a while, and then he takes my hand, and I couldn't keep my heart from beating faster than it already was.

"Can I hold you? That's all I want to do right now. Of course, there are so many other things I also want to do with you, but I want to save those for later. This way, I have something to look forward to when all this is over with, and then I can be with you, and help you make your dreams come true." He's so warm. I wrap my arms around him, as he wraps his around me, and I can feel his heart beating against my chest. It's almost, but not quite in synch with my own heart, and for a moment I think of how nice it would be to just stay like this, but then I think about what he just said, about helping me make my dreams come true.

"Yuugi, I'm going to be going to New York after we graduate. There's no way you can save up enough money between now and then to come with me, and I can't afford to pay your way too." He looked up at me, and he smiled so shyly.

"Actually, Grandpa and I have been saving up money too. Ever since I found out, we've been setting aside a percentage of the store's profits every month, and thanks to all the business we've been getting since Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, I should be able to pay for my own ticket and everything by the time we graduate." My eyes start to moisten as I strengthen my hold on him. Yuugi might think that he's the lucky one, but I know better. And who knows; maybe I can handle love and not turn into an idiot this time around. I'd really like that.

* * *

At long last, Big Brother was fast asleep. It took me forever to get him to take off his Duel Disc, and while I know that he still feels like he needs to always be ready to defend me, he needs to know that he can let down his guard once in a while. After all, I'm a Kaiba too, and he needs to see that I can watch over him too. Besides, Yuugi and his friends would rally themselves to defend us at a moment's notice, so there's nothing for us to worry about. My only hope is that my brother's dreams are of when he used to smile at me, before that bastard Gozaburo got a hold of him. Well, I better get ready for bed; we've all got a long day ahead of us.


	11. Chapter 11

Mother Oh Do Not Bother

"So, that's what's happened while I was out." I'd arrived home and almost fell victim to a huge pot hole that was in front of the entrance to the game shop, and just inside Sugoroku was nursing a cup of coffee. He must have been surprised to see me, for he almost spilled his coffee on himself. I asked him what happened outside, and where my son was, and the story he told me…even a year ago I would have thought it too fantastical to believe, but just before Yuugi left for Egypt six months ago, he told me a story just like it. I could hardly believe that such extraordinary things could be hidden in what should have been perfectly ordinary games, but when he returned from Egypt, without the puzzle that he'd been constantly wearing around his neck, he was a changed man.

"To think, that if I'd scheduled my trip a week earlier or later, I could have been here for him. I know, I know, he's a man now; he doesn't need his mother holding his hand the way he did when I first took him to school. All the same though, I wouldn't have minded the chance to smack those people upside the head and tell them to get lost." Sugoroku stifled a small laugh. "Is there something funny about me fighting on my son's behalf, Sugoroku?" He took another sip from his coffee before responding.

"No, Natsuko, not at all. It's just that Anzu tried to do the same thing before dueling her opponent. It didn't quite take, but she was definitely thinking along the same lines as you." I took a sip from my tea, and smiled.

"Good for her." I thought back to the first time Yuugi spoke to me and Sugoroku about how Anzu had stood up for him in school. I wanted to be happy for him, but I couldn't help but have doubts about the young girl that he spoke of so reverently, and I kept track of every time that she wasn't there for him, each time that some bully stole from my son or beat him to a pulp and she wasn't around to stop it from happening. It was petty, but as far as I was concerned there were some damn high standards to meet if someone was going to be my son's friend. But no matter what, he believed in her, and he wouldn't hear a word against her.

And then I finally did get to meet her, during the summer break, when her parents brought her over to buy a game. I think she picked up on my judgment of her; she was so nervous, as though she thought I was going to sting her. But as her parents spoke with Sugoroku, I spoke with her, and more and more I got the sense of the girl that Yuugi spoke of so fondly, and what shocked me most of all was when she apologized to me for all the times that she wasn't there for Yuugi. After she made me promise that I would never tell Yuugi about what she just told me, I realized then that while she didn't meet my standards, she was trying and that was more then what anyone else was doing. It was more then what I could do for him.

"Natsuko, are you okay? You're spacing out a bit." I shook my head, and finished my tea.

"I'm fine. Now come on Sugoroku, we've got work to do. Yuugi and his friends are going to have to unwind when they get back from wherever it is they've gone off to, and I plan on being ready for them." With that I put my apron on and put Sugoroku to work. It might not be much, but hopefully my son will appreciate it.

* * *

"Welcome Yuugi Mutou, Duel King, former vessel to the once nameless Pharaoh. Tell me, how have you found my games? Were they up to the standard set by Pegasus, the dark Malik, the dark Bakura, and Atem himself?" We'd finally made it into Pegasus' castle, and the moment we entered the main hallway, a hologram of Dopol appeared before us. She was seated in front of a table, her deck by her left hand, the Millennium Tome by her right, and behind her, hanging on the wall, was a slab that looked just like one used to create the original Millennium Items.

"Who are you? How do you know so much about us? And why are you doing all this?" She smirked at me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu step forward as though saying that they wouldn't be cowed by her.

"All fair and reasonable questions, but this venue is hardly appropriate for such a conversation. The appearance of this castle is too…flighty, for such a matter. But…as an incentive, I will answer one question now. I let you all consider what you want to know first, before moving on." I looked at Jounouchi, and he just shook his head.

"It's up to you, Yuugi. You know what we really need to know." He gave me a quick thumbs-up before putting his hand up, his palm facing towards him. Anzu and Honda did the same. No matter what the answer was going to be, I had to ask.

"Dopol, where are your children?" She was quiet. We kept looking at each other, and for a moment I thought that the hologram might have malfunctioned.

"I see. You believe that I carved them up and melted them down, don't you? Well, unlike Akhenaden, I wasn't rushed. Not in the execution, nor in my understanding of the secrets of Shadow Alchemy. But I can see the skepticism in Seto's eyes, so I'll show you. Follow this hologram, and you will understand." It was weird, watching the image glide just above the ground without any real sign of motion, and a quick glance at Seto was enough to see that he was trying to figure out where the solid-vision projectors were. Then he turned to me.

"Yuugi, although I can see why you chose that question, you should have questioned Dopol on how she knew what she did. That would have been far more useful to know." That might be true, but this was more important. As we followed Dopol, she started flipping through the Millennium Tome, perusing something from near the end of that dark book. Suddenly the hologram passed through a door on the right. I took a deep breath, and opened it. Shizuka took one look before stepping behind Jounouchi and gripping his shoulder.

"They're just like Prometheus and her brother." There were seven of them, each of them in capsules designed to resemble sarcophagi, and even though all we could see of them were their faces, it was clear that no amount of medical attention would help them wake up.

"I trust that this answers your question to your full satisfaction, Yuugi. You may examine them all you want, but I'd advise against trying to remove them. I'll mark the path to where I am, and wait for you." With that, the hologram faded, and it was a long time before anyone said anything. For a while we looked at the capsules, but not even Seto could figure out a safe way to remove their occupants. As it so happened, each of them were labeled with what I could only assume were the names of those inside them: Akihiro, Eiji, Aya, Shiori, Bunko, Masahiko, and Tatsuya. I memorized them.

"Everyone, thank you for coming all this way; you're all the greatest friends that I could ever ask for, but this is as far as I can ask you to go."

"Yuugi!" Jounouchi grabbed me by my shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"Dopol's made it clear how far she's willing to go. I can't risk letting her make you part of her Shadow Game. Any of you." Seto scoffed.

"I don't care if you want to coddle the others, but let me make it clear that I'm not going to back down for the sake of your martyr complex. That woman tried to kill me for the purpose of some inane occult ritual, and that demands a response." Jounouchi glared at Seto before turning back to me.

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way…actually, that's not what I'd say at all. Yuugi, do you really think that after everything we've all been through together, that we're going to let you do this alone? Because let me tell you, that ain't happening!"

"My brother's right. You've done far too much for him, for all of us. I might not be able to do much, but I will do what I can. You two deserve that much." Mai smiled at Shizuka.

"That's the spirit Shizuka, but you really need to shed that false modesty. Haven't I already explained to you just how important you are?"

"Jounouchi…Shizuka…Mai…" My eyes are starting to get a little moist. "I just don't want you to get hurt because of me." Anzu took Jounouchi's hand off my shoulder and put hers there.

"And you think that we want to stand by and see you get hurt? Yuugi, we're your friends, and that means we're going to be there for you, no matter what. Besides, you remember what happened the last time we came here, right?" Of course I remember, Anzu. If it hadn't been for you and everyone else, I never would have survived my duel with Pegasus.

"This might not mean much coming from me," Bakura only just managed to look right at me, and faded though it was, and it was faded, there was still a shadow hanging around him, "but I'll do what I can too Yuugi. I still owe you for saving me from the other Bakura." Honda and Otogi clasped Bakura's shoulders.

"Yuugi, we could be at this all day, but I think you get the idea. One for all and all for one. You got that, Yuugi?" You guys…all of you…

"Come on Big Brother, say something supportive for once." Seto looked like he wanted to glare at Mokuba, but he closed his eyes for a moment before facing me.

"Yuugi, if something goes wrong, I'll be right there to pick up the pieces. I can't let anything happen to my rival, now can I?" It would have to do.

"Thank you Anzu, Jounouchi, everyone. Let's go." As we stepped out of the room, a holographic line marked our path, and before long we were descending below even the dungeons of the castle. Finally, we arrived in Dopol's chamber, and there she was, in a room that looked just like the ruined temple at Kul Elna, waiting for us.

* * *

At last, this Shadow Game can be brought to its conclusion. My children, you will soon be rewarded your due for your patience, your loyalty, your devotion to me.

"Before we begin this duel, I will need you all to put my Millennium Items on the table. Yuugi, I'm certain that you've spoken with Isis Ishtar, so you know that this is in your best interest too." They glared at me. Even Yuugi, who otherwise looked so gentle, seemed to assume an aspect of the pharaoh he once served as vessel for when he put his item on the table. It passed though, and he was once again only a shadow of the power he once possessed.

"Dopol, when I win, all the souls that are trapped in the items are going to go free, and the items themselves will be destroyed." That brought a smile to my face. The boy thought to dictate terms to me.

"Well now Yuugi, you're certainly confident. I think you ought to be tempered. Originally, I planned only to use your soul, but if you're going to request such an extravagant reward, then the stakes should be similarly high. When you lose, the souls of all your friends shall be absorbed by the items to fuel their transformation, and once my Millennium Items are complete, your souls will cease to be. Well Yuugi, do you still wish to play?" That seemed to put him in his place. He looked over at all his little friends, his eyes shining with concern. How precious.

But without even saying anything, his friends brought out their decks. Then they each took a card from out of them and gave them to Yuugi, five cards in all. As they looked at him, there was something about this scene that seemed familiar to me, expecially the way that girl Anzu was looking at him. No matter. He put their cards into his deck and reshuffled it before taking his seat. He looked at me with a calm and warm strength in his eyes, unlike the anger of the Pharaoh.

"Dopol, my friends and I are always together. It was how we all won our duels against your Shadow Duelists, and it's how we're going to win now." I wasn't smiling anymore.

"Well then, I think a change in venue is order." I opened the Millennium Tome to refresh my mind, and I began the chant outlined within it. It was only a moment later that the darkness flowed from my Millennium Items. The shadows quickly took hold of his friends, keeping them in place as the boundaries of darkness were established, and then all that could be seen were him, and me. "Welcome Yuugi, to the final Shadow Game."


	12. Chapter 12

The Battle for Everyone's Souls.

I…I can't believe how quickly the shadows took everyone away. I can't even feel them anymore; it's like Dopol took us somewhere else, but I know we're still below the dungeon's of Pegasus' Castle, because I can still see Dopol's Millennium Tablet hanging on the wall behind her. Then she flicked her hand, and the incomplete items attached themselves to the tablet, pressing against the slots that outlined their true forms. For a moment we looked at each other, and I don't know why I didn't notice it before, but the look in her eyes…it was like she hadn't been able to sleep for a very, very long time. But now she was about to speak, and I had to listen.

"Yuugi, didn't you say something about how you and your friends would always be together? As you can see, I've already taken care of that minor obstacle. And by the way, it never mattered whether any of your friends had won or lost; all that mattered was the gathering of sufficiently powerful souls, and my Shadow Duelists certainly qualified for that purpose." They were sacrifices; Dopol was hoping we would defeat her Shadow Duelists right from the very beginning. Yamada, Dual, Prometheus, Ryong, Roulette, Paracelsus, and Sakharov; I'll save you all, I promise. "But, to more immediate concerns; in this shadow game, you will find that as your life points decrease, your willpower will decrease accordingly, which makes it all the more important that you keep your life points high, lest you find yourself unable to play the winning card. That should take care of everything, so why don't we begin." Even now, in this place, under these circumstances, we still called out the beginning of the duel, and I drew my cards. Dopol motioned to me, signifying that I would go first. I drew my next card, and studied my hand: Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Silent Magician LV4, Dragged Down into the Grave, Solemn Wishes, Kuriboh, and the Sun Dragon Ra. If I can time this right, I should be able to stop the Eternal Mausoleum, figure out her strategy, recover my life points, and get one step closer to summoning Silent Magician LV8.

"First, I summon Silent Magician Level Four, and then I set two cards. End turn." Just like in the first Shadow Game the other me played against Seto, as soon as I played my card the monster it embodied appeared before us. It's been a long time since then, and so much has changed because of that one game; but one thing hasn't changed, so even if I can't feel them, I know my bonds aren't broken yet.

"That's how you're going to start? Hmm, not very impressive looking, but then again, we both know that appearances belie the true strength." Dopol drew her next card, and even though it was only for a moment, I saw that gleam of victory in her eyes.

"I activate my spell card, Dragged Down into the Grave!" She glares at me as she shows me her hand: Senju of the Thousand Hands, The Calculator, Greed Quasar, Mad Reloader, Opti-Camouflage Armor, and Eternal Mausoleum; she's going to go for a Ritual Summon, and she probably has something like Copycat to take advantage of her Opti-Camouflage Armor. But first I need to stop the Eternal Mausoleum, so I point to that card, that card that's so full of memories. She in turn chooses The Sun Dragon Ra, and as they're both sent to our respective graveyards, I heard something; it was like…a wailing, keening voice. No, there were many of them, young and old, male and female. Dopol glanced nervously from side to side, as though she could hear what those voices were saying.

"Please, just relax everyone. You know that I've prepared for this eventuality." The wailing grew even louder, and…I could just make out a few snippets of what the voices were saying.

"Do not…our legacy must be…REMEMBER YOUR VOW!" That last outburst was different from the others; it rang loud and clear, as though the speaker were here in this room, and it sounded…almost, but not quite like Dopol. We waited for a moment, and it seemed that the spirits were quiet now. Dopol just looked at me with a faint smile on her face.

"I am truly sorry for that…display. I might have expected it from the children, but whoever heard of an impatient grandmother? Then again, this is nothing new for her. The stories I could tell you, except that there would be no point to it, would there? A shame, since if there's one thing I truly enjoy, it's a good story. For example…" Dopol flipped the pages of her book until she reached what she was looking for. Her eyes acquired a strange glow as she started reading.

"The Pharaoh and his Priests looked upon the Thief-King with feelings that bordered on pity. After all, was it not Akhenaden who had slaughtered the villagers of Kul Elna and thereby violated the Sacred Order of Ma'at that he had sworn to uphold? Was not Diabound a divine spirit beast born of the Thief-King's righteous cause of revenge, a sign that there were those among the gods who approved of his actions and blessed him accordingly? Still, his life was coming to an end, and surrounded by the spirits whose slaughter they had unwittingly become accomplices to, the Pharaoh and his Priests were in no position to pass judgment. Least of all Akhenaden, who had now made his way into the room, his eyes full of the horror that he'd brought about." Dopol looked up from the Millenium Tome, the dead look in her eyes now mixed with a strange passion.

"How…I thought that book only held the secrets of Shadow Alchemy?" She smiled, a soft look that didn't belong with her eyes.

"That's what Ahkenaden believed. He never realized the truth, because he never looked at the book after he made the Millennium Items. This book is the story of all who have ever wielded the Millennium Items, for so long as they are in their possession. Of course, that means that once you destroyed the original seven, I could no longer see what was happening to you, but I had learned enough about you and each of your friends to know what to do." So that's how she knew everything about us; how she could make that card that showed the image of my final duel with the other Bakura, how she was able to target us the way she did… focus Yuugi! It doesn't matter how she's done everything she did; all that matters is that I have to put a stop to this, here and now.

"Dopol, let's not delay this duel any further." My voice is steady, my eyes are stern, and for a moment I think to myself that the other me would be proud if he were here now.

"Of course Yuugi. Look at me, gabbing on like an old woman; the fact that I am an old woman doesn't excuse that, of course. Now, if I recall correctly, we each get to draw a new card, to replace the one's we just discarded." I nodded, and as we did, I activated Solemn Wishes, allowing me to recover 500 life points. My card is The Dark Door, the card Bakura gave me. Dopol's card is a spell or a trap, since she just set it. Then she summoned Senju of the Thousand Hands in defense mode, which allowed her to add a Ritual Monster to her hand. "Well Yuugi, I think this should be an adequate first turn for me. Now, show me what you're capable of." I drew my next card, The Dark Red Enchanter, and I feel Solemn Wishes filling me with more strength.

"Now I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior. Alpha, attack Senju!" As my monster dashed across the table, it seemed like everything was going according to plan, but that's when it happened.

"I activate my face down card, and equip Eye of Illusion to Senju." The Eye of Wdjat appeared in front of Senju, and the moment Alpha's blade touched, the Eye emblazoned itself onto him, stopping the attack. But how…unless?

"You didn't just take Pegasus' company; you took his deck too!" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I didn't take the whole thing. After all, only he would use those ridiculous Toon Monsters of his. To think that someone who had access to such power would express it in such a perverse manner as that; I only took a choice few cards that I felt would serve me best, and as for the others? I threw them away. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Do you disagree? There's something about your face that says you do." Dopol, even though he's already dead, that didn't stop you from desecrating Pegasus' soul; he put his hopes and dreams into those cards. It was all for the sake of seeing his beloved Cyndia again that he created those cards, and now you've destroyed them.

"…Silent Magician, silent burning." My whisper carried across the table, and Silent Magician destroyed Senju of the Thousand Hands without any effort. I didn't say anything as I set The Dark Door, nor did I say anything to signify that my turn was over. I just looked at Dopol, and let her see it in my eyes.

"Not feeling very talkative anymore? Who would have thought that you cared so much for that young loon? In any event, it's my turn now." She drew her card, and for the third time Silent Magician Level 4 grew in power. Even with Alpha on her side of the field now, I doubt that she'll be able to summon a monster powerful enough to face my magician. "Very well, I'll put your Alpha into defense mode, then I'll set one monster and one other card. That's it for my turn." I'm certain that her monster has to be Mad Reloader, but I can't know what the other card is, since it's the one she just drew. But whatever plan she has, I'm going to stop it, with the card that I just drew.

"First, I summon Kuriboh, and then I sacrifice it in order to activate Magical Dimension, which allows me to special summon the Dark Red Enchanter from my hand." Kuriboh gave a quick squeal before vanishing, and was replaced by my new magician, who quickly uses the power granted by Magical Dimension to destroy Alpha. In addition, every time a spell is cast, Dark Red Enchanter will gain a spell counter, raising his attack by 300 points. Heh, it's funny; for some reason, I'm really full of energy. I guess it must be because of this Shadow Game, and the fact that I've raised my life points so high. Oh well, that's nothing to worry about, is it? Just keep a cool head Yuugi, you're doing just fine. "Dark Red Enchanter, attack her face down monster!" And just like I thought, it was Mad Reloader, which meant that she would have to discard two of her cards, in all likelihood Greed Quasar and The Calculator, and then draw two new cards which will give Silent Magician LV 4 a total attack of 3000.

"Now Yuugi, before this battle resolves, I'd like to show you something; this card I set down. It's an interesting little trap called Pharaoh's Treasure. When I activate it, it returns to my deck, which is then shuffled. Then, if at any point I should happen to draw it, I can send it to the grave to recover any one card back to my hand. Who knows? Maybe if I'm lucky, Mad Reloader will see to it that I get it back right away." As her hands quickly and expertly shuffled her deck, Dopol held a slight smile on her face, one that belied the truth behind her words; if I'd stopped to think about it, I would have realized that I shouldn't have risked Mad Reloader's effect. But it's too late now. Already Dark Red Enchanter has made short work of Mad Reloader, and just like I thought, Dopol does send Calculator and Greed Quasar to the grave, and even though Silent Magician is only one step away from her full power, Dopol's empty field no longer fills me with confidence.

"Silent Magician, attack Dopol directly!" My magician's attack, a great flash of light that seemed to silence the winds of battle, enveloped Dopol. As it faded, it seemed to take what vitality that Dopol possessed with it; she slumped back in her chair, and her glazed over. For a moment I thought that she would faint, except that the voices returned. This time though, they seemed gentle and…supportive? Dopol did look like her eyes were lighting up, and her smile seemed almost motherly as she spoke to the spirits that surrounded her.

"There there my children. I know you're sorry. You were impatient, but I knew that you would be there for me when I needed you. Such wonderful, loyal children you all are; and grandmother, you can be quite harsh, but we both know that it's born of your love for me. Don't worry yourself over me, my dears; I'll turn this around before too long, and then you'll receive your long overdue reward." The voices that surrounded her faded away, gradually. For a moment I thought I could see one of those spirits, a woman of even more advanced age then Dopol, and the slight smile on her face spoke of feelings that had long gone unspoken.

"Dopol, what are you trying to accomplish? Why do you need the Millennium Items to achieve your ends?" Her smile became harsh now, with the memory of its past gentleness already forgotten.

"I doubt that you'd be able to understand, Yuugi. After all, you are still so very young, and there is so much that is yet beyond your reach. But...let us resume our duel. Now, since you have no more cards in your hand, I'm going to assume that your turn is over, yes?" I nodded. "Very good. And look at what I just drew, such wonderful timing, don't you think?" She played her card, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, which allowed her to add a ritual spell card to her hand. "Yuugi, you might have been able to defeat this card before, but I doubt you can do it again. I activate Advanced Ritual Art, and send one Skull Servant from my deck to my grave in order to summon Relinquished!" The sound of a heartbeat echoed throughout the chamber as Relinquished took form; a hideous monster that despite its strange and seemingly feeble form possessed a power unlike any other monster in the game, a power that grows with the strength of its enemies. Relinquished absorbed my Silent Magician, which granted it 3500 attack points, which Dopol followed up on by equipping Relinquished with the Opti-Camouflage Armor, which allowed it to perform direct attacks. Dopol ordered Relinquished to attack me, and it focused Silent Magician's power onto me.

In the next moment I was enveloped by a brilliant light, a light that smothered me and drove away all sound, leaving me all alone. It was a feeling that I've been used to, ever since I was very little. For some reason, I find myself thinking about the very first time I ever saw Anzu; no matter what my mother said to me, I wouldn't let go of her hand. I was small and weak, and I didn't like to fight, so I didn't think anyone would want to be my friend. And then I saw her, and I let go of my mother's hand. Even then, it took me years to build up the courage to talk to her, and in the end, even with her friendship, I was still lonely. I could never tell her that, because then she'd think it was her fault, and nothing could ever be further from the truth. The truth is that it was all me. I couldn't believe in myself, and it took Jounouchi, and Honda, and the Other Me, and all the others to help me do just that.

It's funny; even though I know my strength is being sapped away, I don't feel any weaker. I'm not sure why, but I'd like to think that it has to do with the Other Me, that he's somehow made his way out of the afterlife so that he could he help me one last time. But I know better. This light, it's not the same as the light that he walked away in, not gentle and full of hope. Besides, there is no Other Me; there is only me, and it is enough; for me, for my friends, and for her. I know that now, and that knowledge is what's keeping me strong.

"So Yuugi, how did it feel, your own power turned against you?" The moment that the light enveloped me finally passed, and in that time Dopol had set two cards, the cards she drew from Mad Reloaders effect. She looked at me with skepticism in her eyes; she's trying to figure out why I don't seem any weaker from the effect of the Shadow Game. I let the card that I draw do the speaking for me; Card of Demise, the card Kaiba gave me, which allows me to draw five new cards. I remember the way the Other Me felt Seto's soul in the card he gave him, and now I can feel Anzu's soul in the cards she gave me. But first…

"I now play Monster Reborn and special summon the Sun Dragon Ra from the grave!" A great pillar of fire arose from the graveyard, and I found myself reciting the Hieratic Text needed to command Ra's power. It's a bit weird, since I still don't know what it means; I mean, I know that this portion of the text allows me to give up 1000 life points to destroy all the monsters on Dopol's side of the field, but it's like…I don't know, I'm a little focused on making sure I get this right to do a proper comparison. Now the Phoenix is before me, its power exceeding any other in this world; I can feel my energy feeding his fire as it rushes towards Dopol's monsters, ready to return their ashes to the earth.

"Impressive Yuugi, to summon the Phoenix at this interval, is truly remarkable. Now, while I can't keep my monsters from being destroyed, I can have that destruction be on my terms. I activate the trap card, Altar for Tribute!" The fire of Ra incinerated Manju, but as the altar arose beneath Relinquished, a giant hand reached down, shielding from the infinitely hot fire before tearing it apart and returning its attack power, all 3500 points of it, back to Dopol. Its work complete, Ra returned to the grave. Now Dopol had only one card on her side of the field and I wondered; could it really be that card? There was only one way to find out.

"Dark Red Enchanter, attack with Deep Red Magic!" As my magician focused his power, Dopol activated her card, and just like I thought it was the Devil's Sanctuary. A great magic circle formed, and from that array arose the metal devil token, which mirrored my image in its form. A demonic construct that would reflect any damage I did against it, I couldn't afford to attack it.

"You thought you were close, didn't you Yuugi? Even with the power of a god on your side, you couldn't win. But as I said before, you are still so young; you don't understand what power is, nor what to do with it. It's a shame that you'll never have the chance to learn; you have so much potential." Her eyes seemed to open wide when she said that last part, like she hadn't meant to say it. "Now that's strange. Why should I have any regrets about killing you?" She began to look at me, far more intently then she'd been doing before. It was very uncomfortable, and I wanted to stop.

"Now I summon Maha Vailo, and equip it with Mage Power, raising her attack to thirty five-fifty, and with all the spells we've been casting, Dark Red Enchanter's attack is now thirty two-hundred." Now Dopol was looking down at Maha Vailo.

"Her? Of course, that's what was confusing me. Young man," her smile was almost gentle as she spoke, with only a hint of her intentions towards me and my friends on her face, "you remind me of Shiori. I kept trying to make you match up to one of my sons, but you just wouldn't fit. You're a peculiar boy, you know that don't you? Then again, a normal boy couldn't possibly serve as the vessel for the once nameless Pharaoh. What do you think, Yuugi?" As she spoke she set a monster alongside her Metal Devil token, which she paid the necessary 1000 life points to sustain.

"What was she like? Shiori, I mean." Her smile relaxed, until all the malice seemed to be gone from it.

"Was? You shouldn't speak in the past tense like that. After all, once I win this little game, I will give her the new Millennium Puzzle. But since you won't be able to see her yourself, I'll answer the spirit of your question; she's a very gentle and selfless girl. She was the first to volunteer her soul for the Millennium Items; she said that she wouldn't let any of her siblings' risk their souls before we found out if the method outlined in the book would really work. Such a sweet, noble girl; there were times when outsiders would try to interfere with our work, but Shiori wouldn't let them anywhere near us. It was quite unnecessary, since our security would be more then sufficient to deter the ignorant, but her spirit was to be applauded nonetheless. I could go on, but you're probably bored of this conversation already, so let us resume our duel. It's your turn, Yuugi." Devotion, a mother's devotion to her children, that's what this was all about. Dopol was right, I really can't understand. But even though I don't understand, I do know that it's still wrong, and I still have to stop her.

I draw my next card, and review my hand: Marshmallon, Silent Swordsman LV3, and Mirror Wall. Mai, I'll make good use of your card. "First I set one card, and then I summon Silent Swordsman Level Three in defense mode. Now Maha Vailo, attack her face down monster." It only lasted a moment under my onslaught, but that was all it took for her monster, which revealed itself to be Morphing Jar, to activate its effect. While I had to discard Marshmallon, Dopol had no cards in her hand and thus had no cards to discard. Now I had a new hand: Level Soul, Magician's Circle, Yellow Gadget, Gandora the Dragon of Destruction, and Dark Magician.

"Dopol, I now activate Dark Red Enchanter's other effect; for every two tokens I remove from him, you must randomly discard one card. I now remove four tokens." Dark Red Enchanter launched a pair of fire balls at Dopol's hand, forcing her to send the cards that were hit to the grave. "Now I end my turn." As Dopol drew her next card, I could swear that the shadows were trailing behind it. The Metal Devil token vanished, signifying that she would no longer pay the upkeep for it, that she had no more need for it.

"Well Yuugi, you've put up a good fight until now, but you have no more chance of victory. I now send Pharaoh's Treasure to the grave to recover Eternal Mausoleum!" She played her card, and once again I was back in that place. And it didn't just look like it either; it really felt like I was back there. "Now, first I'm going to summon Copycat, who'll copy your Maha Vailo. Next, I'll play Card of Safe Return, which means that when I summon Relinquished back from the grave, I get to draw a new card. And while I don't think I need to mention it, Relinquished will be absorbing your Maha Vailo. Relinquished, attack the Dark Red Enchanter!" Now's the time for Mai's card to come into play.

"I activate Mirror Wall!" Panes of glass appeared between our monsters, perfectly reflecting Relinquished and draining away half its attack power. Unfortunately, when my Dark Red Enchanter battles Relinqueshed, Maha Vailo is destroyed instead and I take the damage in Dopol's place.

"A meaningless effort, Yuugi. Copycat, attack his Silent Swordsman. Mirror Strike!" Even with Mirror Wall's effect, Copycat would have more then enough power destroy Silent Swordsman. Fortunately, I have another card to play.

"I now activate The Dark Door, which will limit us to one monster per battle phase. You've already attacked with Relinquished, so your battle phase is over." Dopol sighed.

"Wheels within wheels, eh Yuugi? In a way, I'm glad that you countered my attack. This is the first time in a long time that I've been able to enjoy a game, and I'm no longer quite so eager to see it come to an end. But it will come to an end, and very soon; my soul as a gamer tells me this. All right Yuugi, you've held me back this turn, now see if you can turn this around. Remember, my Relinquished is vulnerable, but only for this turn. Well? Go ahead, draw your card." The look in Dopol's…no, the look in Mrs. Tsukasa's eyes had changed completely; at the start of the duel they were so dark and listless, but now they were filling with a great joy for life. Just a little more to go, and I'm sure that I can bring about a meaningful victory.

But…there's only one card in my deck that can help me, the card that Jounouchi gave me. Without his card, I won't be able to win. I reach out to my deck, and just like when I drew Anzu's card and felt her soul in it, I could feel Jounouchi's soul in his card. As I draw it from the deck, I realize it's more then just his soul that I'm feeling; it's everyone's souls, all bound together in friendship.

"First, I pay the upkeep on Mirror Wall, and then Silent Swordsman levels up to Level Five. Now, I remove Dark Red Enchanter's two remaining tokens, forcing you to discard one more card, before sacrificing him and the Silent Swordsman Level Five in order to summon, Gandora the Dragon of Destruction! Next, I spend half of my remaining life points to activate Gandora's power and destroy all other cards on the field, and for every card that gets destroyed, Gandora gains three hundred attack points." Between Mirror Wall and Gandora, I have almost no life left of my own, but I have more then just my own life within me, so I can still be strong. As Gandora gathers the energy for his power, Mrs. Tsukasa looks down at Eternal Mausoleum. Yamada said that no effect could destroy that card; we're about to find out if he's right.

"Gandora, Giga Rays of Destruction!" Each jewel on Gandora's body fires a beam of light, together bathing the whole field in shining brilliance. As each card is destroyed, a great cracking sound rings out, and Eternal Mausoleum's is loudest of all of them. Finally, Gandora rests, its power now settled at 2100 points.

"Very impressive Yuugi; it's such a shame that your dragon doesn't have enough power to defeat me, and since it'll be gone at the end of the turn, you won't have any monsters left to protect you. A dazzling move, to be certain, but it won't be enough. I told you that my soul as a gamer knew this duel would be ending soon." I smiled back at her, without any edge at all.

"Actually, I have one more card to play. I now equip United We Stand to Gandora!" Mrs. Tsukasa chuckled very slightly.

"Ah, but you only have one monster on the field; that won't do you any…what? How is this possible?" Tethers of light reached out from Gandora into the darkness, and as we waited, one by one my friends made their way out of the darkness, giving Gandora their strength and raising his attack power to 9300.

"YUUGI!" Everyone called out to me, even Seto, and they all rushed towards me. Anzu and Jounouchi broke out into the lead, and they reached me at the same time. Their hands were on my shoulders, and I could feel my strength rejuvenating. "You're okay, right Yuugi?" I looked up at Anzu with an earnest smile on my face.

"Of course, and you're okay too. We're all okay, everyone." Dopol looked at us all, her eyes now full of the light of her love for her children.

"Hmm, I guess this is what I get for making your friends a part of this game. But I'm actually quite glad that you're all here now; it would be quite sad if you couldn't see the rest of our duel. Come on Yuugi, show me your Dragon's attack, show me the power of your friendship that defies the power of the shadows at every turn." Mrs. Tsukasa, I really do believe that Dueling has a magic all its own, apart from the shadows, a magic that helps people to come together. I hope that when this is over, you and your children will be able to turn away from the path of the shadows.

"Gandora…ATTACK!" Gandora's breath was a great beam of light, so it was very strange to see it suddenly stop only centimeters away from Mrs. Tsukasa by what appeared to be the spirit of a young woman. Both Mrs. Tsukasa and I looked at the tiny spirit, and we watched it as it vanished.

"What the hell! Lady, you better not be cheating!" I grabbed Jounouchi's arm and kept him from pointing at Mrs. Tsukasa.

"No Jounouchi, she didn't cheat." I looked at the card that she discarded to the graveyard, the one card that could stop my Dragon's attack.

"Kuriboh was Shiori's favorite card, and she insisted that I keep it in my deck. I guess a piece of her soul found its way into the card, and made sure that it would be there to help me. I guess our duel won't be over just yet Yuugi. So, do you have anything else you want to do this turn, or are you done?" The Shadow Game wasn't over yet, but the shadows were already giving way to the light, and this duel almost felt like a normal duel.

"I'll set two cards, and end my turn." Gandora vanished to the grave, as did the tethers of light that connected it to my friends, but we're together now, and the shadows can't take them back.

"I play my card, Sacrifice of the Fallen; by removing four cards in my graveyard from play, I can draw two cards. Now I summon to the field the Herald of Creation. Herald, direct attack!" I looked to my friends, and they weren't afraid for me at all.

"Dopol," Seto looked at her disdainfully, "I should let you know that even though he might look weak and vulnerable, Yuugi is a far greater duelist then you. Show her, Yuugi." I nodded to Seto.

"I activate my trap card, Magician's Circle, which allows us both to special summon a spell caster from our decks with no more then two thousand attack points. My choice is the Dark Magician Girl."

"And my choice is the Dark Eyes Illusionist, who'll use its power on your magician. And honestly? I'm glad you had that trap, since now I can make full use of Herald's special ability; by discarding one card from my hand, I can add one level seven or higher monster from the grave, and I choose Greed Quasar. Since I now have two monsters on the field, I'll be able to summon him on the next turn, and speaking of which, it's your turn, Yuugi."

I draw my next card, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. "I now activate my trap card, Level Soul! I sacrifice one monster on the field, and remove from play one level monster in my grave. Then, I special summon from my deck a level monster that is named on that card. I remove from play Silent Swordsman Level Five to special summon Silent Swordsman Level Seven! Silent Swordsman, attack Herald of Creation with Silent Hero Slash!" Silent Swordsman dashed across the field and destroyed Herald without making a sound. "End turn."

Mrs. Tsukasa drew her card, and smiled eagerly. "After seeing the power of Ra in action, I was hoping I'd get the chance to wield it for myself. I'm happy to say that I can make that happen. I now play Monster Reborn in order to special summon the Sun Dragon Ra from your graveyard, Yuugi!" A glowing Ankh descended onto the field, but Silent Swordsman Level Seven raised his sword, and the Ankh vanished.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Tsukasa, but Silent Swordsman Level Seven negates all spells on the field." She snapped her fingers.

"I should have known you'd be prepared for that. Well, I know the rest of my deck, and I know that I can't win at this point; without spells I can't hope to get a sufficiently powerful monster out, so there's no point in prolonging this duel. You've won, Yuugi. You should be proud of yourself." She closed the Book of Shadow Alchemy. "So much for my family's legacy; I guess my children will have to depend on each other to make their way in the world." We were all quiet for a moment, when suddenly there was a loud rumbling coming from the Millennium Slab. We all looked up at it, and while the souls within were being released, the items weren't being destroyed; they were melting down into the recesses of the Millennium Slab before freezing solid.

"What the hell Dopol!?" Jounouchi yelled out, "I thought you said Yuugi had won, so what's going on with those damn items!?" Her face was drawn tight as she glared up at the slab.

"I was worried that something like this might happen." She turned back to us. "You all need to get out of here and make sure my children get off this island. Don't worry, I'll make sure their souls return to them, as I promised." She stood up for the first time, and took the book into her hands. Then, it was only for a moment, but I could see glowing red eyes, and I knew, we all knew what was trying to make its way out of the shadows.

"Mrs. Tsukasa, you can't stop that thing, not on your own!" But before we could do anything, the last seven souls that were trapped in the Millennium Items descended to her side, and Mrs. Tsukasa spoke to us without turning around.

"As you can see, I'm not alone. Now hurry! If you are to fulfill your promise Yuugi, you have to get my children out of here!"

* * *

Yuugi and his friends were reluctant, but they did as they had to. It really is just as well that things are working out as they are; I'd forgotten that there was more to this world then my children, that there were others whose bonds were just as true and powerful as our own. I'm sorry Grandmother, I know that you taught me that the outside world was a cruel, cold and empty place, and that the people in it were just as worthless, but that boy showed me otherwise; the love he showed for his friends, and especially for that girl, proves that the lives and souls of others are not toys for us to play with.

"Mother, we're sorry that you lost; we saw the whole thing, and even with my card you couldn't win." I wanted to put my hand on her head, but she was just a soul, and my hand would've just passed through.

"My dear Shiori, you did everything you could for me. The truth is that it wouldn't have mattered what cards we had; Yuugi was right, and we were wrong." Akihiro leapt forward, dominating my view.

"But Mother, how could you be wrong? You took us in when no one else would; you believed that we were good and deserved to be loved, and you even congratulated me when I finally translated the final pages of the book." I smiled at my son, so wonderfully loyal, even to the very end.

"Akihiro, all of you; you have to understand that this family was trapped by this book, by the promise of its secrets. You need to walk away from it and from me without any regrets. I've held you back from the world, and in doing so I've held back your souls. It's time for you all to leave the nest. Please, do not mistrust the world; embrace it, and help it to shine even brighter." Even though my children were just souls, they began to tear up all the same, and even I was beginning to cry.

"_HOW QUAINT; YOU OFFER THOSE FOOLS THE HOPE OF THE LIGHT, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT MY RESSURECTION WILL BRING UNCEASING DARKNESS TO THIS WORLD._"My children stood brave, but I looked them in the eyes, and they flew away to return to their bodies. Now it was just me, and that foul demon that Akhenaden once summoned to this world. The Millennium Items kept glowing ever brighter as they drew more of the shadows into themselves, giving the demon more purchase into this world.

"Well, Zorc Necrophades, to what do I owe this pleasure? Never mind, it doesn't matter how you got here; the only thing that matters is that I can't allow you to interfere with the lives of my children." A deep rumbling laughter echoed from the darkness.

"_HUMAN, DO YOU IMAGINE THAT YOU CAN STOP ME AFTER HAVING SERVED AS THE TOOL OF MY RETURN? YOU ARE BUT ONE TINY FRAGILE HUMAN WHOSE SOUL SHALL SOON BE EXHAUSTED."_

"I see that you still haven't learned your lesson, Zorc."

"_WHAT?_" I waved my finger in front of the monster, and though it growled it still lacked solid form, though that wouldn't be the case for much longer.

"Three thousand years ago, despite the Pharaoh Atem's sacrifice of his name, you could have yet won, if not for the intervention of Kisara, who banished the portion of your soul that had dominated Akhenaden and threatened to possess the Pharaoh Seto. And only seven months ago, in the world of the Pharaoh's memories, you once again could have achieved victory; if not for the cartouche that Anzu had given to Atem, allowing him to reclaim his name. And now I stand before you, an old woman whose life is in her children. Can you really believe that the outcome will be different the third time around?" Zorc's anger was like a miasma that threatened to suffocate me. That's okay though; he wouldn't be much of a world destroying demon if he weren't some manner of threat.

"_THEIR EFFORTS WERE MEANINGLESS; EVEN THE EVENTS OF THE MEMORY WORLD ONLY SERVED TO DELAY ME, AND YOU HAVE NOTHING. YOU HAVE NO SPIRIT MONSTER THAT CAN HOPE TO FACE ME, NOR SHALL THE GODS ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS._

"None except for the self proclaimed god that stands before me; you clearly haven't realized it, but I know the final secret of the Book of Shadow Alchemy. I know that I can destroy it and the Millennium Slab all in one fell swoop, thus forever locking you out of existence." Zorc was enraged and began to roar.

"_THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE! THE BOOK OF SHADOW ALCHEMY CAN NOT BE DESTROYED, FOR IT IS BOUND TO MY ETERNAL SOUL, WHICH IS FUELED BY THE DARKNESS OF HUMANITY!"_

"But one soul, guided by the light of love and friendship, can bring about a miracle. That is what Yuugi has shown me, and I will not let his miracle be undone." I chanted the final prayer, and Zorc attempted to envelop me in its shadowy form, hoping to achieve solid form and crush me before I could finish. He might have succeeded, if I didn't have a firm resolve, and the love of my children to show the way. Now my soul is beginning to dissolve, and it's harder to keep speaking, but I can see the cracks forming in the Millennium Slab, and I can feel the Book of Shadow Alchemy crumbling away in my hands. So I kept at it, and before long the book was as dust, the Millennium Slab was a small and dull pile of rocks, and Zorc Necrophades was gone forever. And now, so am I.


	13. Chapter 13

Home Again, Home Again.

"Grandpa, Mom, we're back!" I hadn't expected Mom to be back home yet, but I was really glad that she was, since there were a lot of things I wanted to tell her, and a few questions I wanted to ask. But that would have to wait, since there were two other people in the house; one was an American girl who looked about twelve or thirteen years old, while the other was a tall Chinese woman wearing a distractingly tight Chinese dress. The American girl was talking to Grandpa like they were old friends while the Chinese woman looked like she was trying to get into my Mother's good graces. But once they noticed us, they raced over to me. The American girl took my hands in her and started speaking rather quickly.

"Yuugi, it's so very good to meet you. I'm Rebecca Hopkins, the American Champion, and I'm the granddaughter of Professor Arthur Hopkins, who's an old friend of your grandfather." Then the Chinese woman nudged Rebecca out of the way and brought herself very close to me; it was really awkward and uncomfortable for me.

"And I am Vivian Wong, Semi-Finalist of the Chinese Nationals. On the surface that might not seem as impressive as shorty over here, but keep in mind that level of challenge in China is far greater then what you might find in America." I took a quick look behind me; Jounouchi, Honda, and Otogi were openly gaping at me, Shizuka and Mai were giggling at my predicament, Bakura was trying to look disinterested, and Anzu…she was getting that twitch in her eye again, the twitch whenever one of my fangirls got a little too touchy-feely for her taste.

"Wow…um, it's always great to meet such enthusiastic duelists. Can I ask what brings you here?" The two foreign females took a step back, as though presenting themselves to me, and they spoke as one.

"Yuugi, you are the greatest duelist in the world, and therefore you deserve no less from your girlfriend!" Rebecca gave Vivian a quick death glare before she stepped forward.

"Yuugi, our grandfather's have been friends for a long time, so I know that we'll be able to get along really well." Then Vivian started laughing a noblewoman's laugh, though thankfully it wasn't as bad as it was in most anime. Then she started cupping my face.

"What shorty here doesn't seem to appreciate is that you need a woman, not a little girl. Choose me, my dear Yuugi, and I'll make sure that you enjoy being my love slave." That was when my Mother grabbed Vivian by the shoulder and pulled her back, giving me a chance to step away from the crazed woman.

"Young lady, I had my reservations about you, but you seemed like you were sincere when you told me that you just wanted the opportunity to introduce yourself to my son. But if you're going to be so…brazen, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Vivian immediately started bowing before my mother, begging her for another chance.

"Sorry Viv," Rebecca cut in as she grabbed my hands again, "But it looks like I win this round. You really need to learn to not be such a…well, I wouldn't want to say in front of my sweet, innocent Yuugi." Grandpa chuckled a bit before taking Rebecca's shoulder and gently pulling her back.

"Rebecca, while it's been wonderful to finally get to meet you, I'm afraid that you can't become Yuugi's girlfriend. While you may have graduated from college, you're still a little girl." Rebecca turned around and started explaining to Grandpa that she was mature enough for her age to have a boyfriend. Then I felt Jounouchi's hand on my shoulder

"Yuugi, you mind sharing some of that charm of yours? Because I'm pretty sure you've got more then you know what to do with." Honda joined in, bringing his hand down on my other shoulder.

"Seriously, I never thought I'd be asking this, but what's your secret? Because if I'm ever going to get anywhere with that certain someone, I'd like all the help I can get." I didn't know what to say. I really didn't; I never thought that girls would ever notice me, much less that foreign girls would seek me out. Of course, part of that's because there was only ever one girl I ever wanted to notice me…suddenly Jounouchi and Honda stepped back, and Anzu interposed herself between me and the foreign girls.

"Yuugi, close your eyes, right now." Anzu had her reasons, so even though I didn't know what they were, I did as she said. I waited, and waited, and then…wow. Just…wow. Maybe after I get some more experience, I can describe this sensation better. I opened my eyes, and Anzu's face was all I could see, all I could feel. Even after she pulled away, the only thing that I knew was her. Anzu…I feel like we can talk without speaking, that all we have to do is look at each other, and our feelings can be one. We're so lucky, that we can share these feelings.

"I love you." It was only just a whisper, but everyone heard it clearly. I've wanted to say those words for so long, and I never could have dreamed that it would feel this good. I take my hand and cup your face, memorizing the feel of your skin and your hair. You look at me, and the light in your eyes shines so bright I fear that I might be engulfed by it. I welcome this, your embrace, as we kiss once more.

"What is the meaning of this?! Who are you to kiss MY Yuugi after I've traveled so far to be with him?" It sounded like Vivian had regained her senses, and it looked like Rebecca was about to do the same.

"Yeah, I don't remember you ever participating in any tournaments! How can you think that you'd be a good match for him when you're not even a duelist?" Anzu was going to challenge the both of them to a duel right then and there, but I took her hand in mine to let her know that wouldn't be necessary.

"I'm really sorry about this, Rebecca and Vivian, but it looks like I'm taken. I hope that we can still be friends." For a moment it seemed like they would explode, but they just sighed, and made their way to the door. Rebecca stopped just outside the store and turned back, facing me.

"You'll have to give us some time Yuugi. I'm pretty sure that I can get Vivian to settle for Kaiba, but it'll take a while. Just…make sure you really mean what you just said, about us still being able to be friends." I smiled back.

"Of course I do." I bowed to her, and she replied in turn. And now they were gone. I wonder if my life will ever pass for normal; I sure hope not.

"All right Yuugi," my Mother called to me, pulling me out of my reverie, "Go wash your hands; I worked hard on this meal, and I won't have you eating it with dirty fingers." I nodded to my mother, and closed the door to the game shop. Another chapter of my life is over, and a new one is already beginning.

Author's Note: For the readers who've stuck with this story to the very end, I hope that the dramatic scenes kept you on the edge of your seats, the comedic scenes had you giggling, and the sad scenes made your eyes get moist. Most of all, I hope that you've enjoyed this story. If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend reading "Rebirth of the Shadow Games: The Night Before", and "Fairy Tales aren't Real", as they help to set up the background for this story. And stay tuned for "Rebirth of the Shadow Games: After the End", to find out what happens to all the characters after this, the latest journey in their lives. Until then!


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